


Displaced

by StarYeti



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action, Drama, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:14:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22674658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarYeti/pseuds/StarYeti
Summary: Ruby Rose, 26, is fighting a desperate battle against Salem when she finds herself shunted across time and space where she comes face to face with her younger self eleven years in the past. With a chance to change her bleak future she sets out to make sure the events of her past do not repeat themselves while also trying to keep team RWBY out of trouble.
Relationships: Future!Ruby Rose/Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 45
Kudos: 229





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! StarYeti here! This will probably be the only preceding note for a while, as I'm uploading this here in AO3 as well as FF.net where this story originally posted. It came to my attention that AO3 has different people so I decided to play the story around. If things get better I may post my other stories here as well but that can be a lot. It really depends.

Displaced

1

* * *

The brunette uncovered her one good eye as the blinding light faded, her enemy was gone along with the battlefield they had been engaged upon. Gone was the dark earth and purple crystal, replaced with the swaying of beautiful scarlet leaves in the gentle wind. The drastic change in temperature hit her at the same time as the pain from her missing left eye. The golden circlet that adorned her head was torn off and hooked around her belt. Ignoring the pain as best she could she tore a section from her bright red cloak and tied it over her wounded feature, stymying the blood loss. 

_Forever Fall? It can’t be._

“Jaune?” She called out, her voice cracking in her dry throat, “JAAAUUUNEE!?” 

The only sound that answered her was the breeze whistling through the trees. The brunette coughed, her lungs burning as she spit up some blood.

_That’s not good._ She idly remarked at the blood on her hands matching the dozen or so cuts and gashes across her body. Luckily, the adrenaline coursing through her body was keeping her on her feet despite the pain but as soon as it stopped, so would she. The woman could feel the exhaustion in the body she had pushed far past it’s limits. She thought back to her blond friend, the last she had seen from him was the nasty blow he’d taken to his head. 

Ruby Rose tried to calm down her panicked breathing as she listened carefully to the forest, straining her hearing, hoping against all hope that her friend had ended up nearby. Something pricked her ears and she listened to it, a distant cry. In a hurry she moved towards the sound, the only thing she had to go on. Moving at a swift jog the sound came more into focus. It sounded like a young man and as she drew even closer it resolved into a single word.

“Ursa!”

The word sent a fresh jolt of adrenaline surging through her, spurring her tired body on towards whoever needed help. Calling upon some of the last dregs of her power, she sped up even further, rose petals flowing and blending with the crimson foliage. Ruby ran as a blur through the forest, anyone who saw her probably would have marked it off as a trick of the light. Bursting into a clearing she found that she was just in time to see a young swordsman decapitating an Alpha Ursa. She slid to a stop, her breath hitching in her chest as she spotted the blond mop that she’d know anywhere. 

Before she could call out to him, two more Ursa burst from the treeline, rushing her friend. Time seemed to stretch on until she felt something was off, he was reacting fast enough. These Ursa should have been no problem for her old friend but he just stood there dumbly in the face of death. Barely registering the cries coming from the edge of the clearing Ruby sprang into action. 

In one fluid motion she stuffed the staff she had been carrying into her belt and reached behind her to grab her weapon only to grimace at the fact it wasn’t there, the memory of Crescent Rose shattering in her last battle causing a brief pain. It still only took a second to check for her weapon and the Grimm were still advancing on the young man. 

In a flash the woman was next to the young man, his face barely registering surprise as she grabbed him by the hood and hauled him behind her. Leveling a single, silver orb at the oncoming Grimm, slipping into that familiar state of mind that she’d gotten so used to over the years. A bright flash of silver light reduced the Grimm to nothingness. She stood ready, one hand clamped around the hood of the young man, boy, actually. As she eyed the edges of the clearing, waiting to find if more Grimm were going to appear, she finally got a good look at the person she knew to be her friend, and her heart nearly stopped. 

It was Jaune alright. But he was young, far too young. He looked the same as when she had met him. A movement at the edge of her vision had her head whipping around. It was a plethora of bright colors that greeted her, that and the impossibly young faces of her friends. One in particular caught her eyes, Pyrrha Nikos somehow managed to look both concerned and relieved at the same time. She almost didn’t recognize the young woman, it had been over a decade since her friend had died, after all. 

Ruby froze like a deer in headlights as a small figure in black and red came around from behind Pyrrha. If she was having a dream then it was a bad one and this couldn’t be the afterlife, not if she was already here. Her honed huntress training allowed her to process all of this in a few seconds, in the time it took for Pyrrha to start fawning over her partner, checking him for wounds. 

Ruby’s eyes never left the lilac orbs of her older (younger?) sister. The young Yang herself seemed to freeze as well and a single word tumbled out of her mouth.

“Summer?” 

The one word seemed to unfreeze the older woman and she frantically shook her head from side to side causing a sudden dizziness to overwhelm her. Ruby opened her mouth to say something but found it was full of grass.

_Huh? When did I fall over?_

“She’s wounded!” She could only watch with tired eyes as her partner, youth regained, knelt by her side, “Hang on, Ma’am! I’ll begin first aid.”

Her silver eye drifted over to the young Ruby that stood back, her eyes wide as silver met silver. It was the last thing she saw before darkness swallowed her.

* * *

  
  
  


“Someone get Miss Goodwitch!” Weiss barked out and Ren ran off instantly. The heiress reached for one of that many small containers on her belt and pulled out a small first aid kit. They had already rolled the woman onto her back and Yang could feel her heart squeeze at the bloody sight. It was a wonder the woman had even been standing, let alone doing whatever she had done to those Grimm. Blake moved around to the other woman’s side as Weiss began disinfecting all the wounds she could reach, all the while handing patches to the black clad girl so that she could apply clean bandages. 

“I didn’t know you knew first aid, Weiss.”

The heiress only spared a quick glance to her teammate, “A Schnee must always be prepared. When I made it clear I was going to become a huntress, my sister made sure I would be prepared for any situation.” As the white haired girl removed the red cloth covering the still bleeding eye she hissed out a breath and the grisly sight. The was an angry red wound stretching from the middle of the woman’s brow to the side of her cheek bone, the organ it passed through was unsalvageable, “I never thought I’d have to use my training this soon.” She got out in a whisper. 

Yang plopped down right next to the heiress and started rummaging through the woman’s pockets. Weiss was aghast at this, “What are you doing! You can’t just go through an injured person’s belongings!”

“Can and should, Weiss-cream.” The blond brawler absentmindedly replied, finally getting her hands on the object she had been searching for, she held the scroll aloft for her team to see, “Dad taught us that if we ever find a an injured or deceased hunter in the wild to check their scroll for their identity.”

Expanding the screen of the device, the blonde quickly pulled up the identification screen. Though other functions were sealed behind a password lock, important information like I.D. was kept unlocked for situations like these. Yang froze as she saw the name of the person lying unconscious before them. Both Blake and Weiss noticed the girl’s reaction and were instantly suspicious.

“You said a name, right before she collapsed. Do you know her?” Blake asked, her voice low. Weiss scowled with growing impatience.

“You could say that.” Yang said, her voice laced with a touch of hysteria, “Summer was Ruby’s mom’s name. This isn’t her.” She added seeing their expression, “But she looks just like her.”

“So she’s a look alike. It happens.” Weiss responded with a roll of her eyes. She did her best to clean the woman’s wounded eye and apply a fresh bandage to it.

“Not like this.” She turned the scroll so that they could both see it. Blake leaned in over the wounded woman so that should see the scroll. The picture on it was the same as the woman there, but with two beautiful silver eyes. There wasn’t a smile on her face in the I.D. but there was no doubt it belonged to the woman. What really caught their interest was the name on it. As one both Weiss and Blake looked over at the leader of their team. The name on the screen was as plain as day.

**Ruby Rose**

“Impossible. That’s ridiculous.” Weiss was the first to deny it. There was no way that the woman lying there, bloody and beaten, was their fifteen year old leader. 

“What?” Ruby, their Ruby, looked confused she hadn’t seen the scroll, instead she’d been staring at the woman’s face. She, like Pyrrha, Jaune, and the other students, had been watching the exchange silently. All the students had been taught that if there was someone who knew what to do then they were to stay out of the way unless ordered to do something. 

“The scroll says….” Weiss hesitated as she looked at the other onlookers, “We’ll wait until Miss Goodwitch arrives.” 

“But Weiss!”

“But nothing, Ruby! This should be discussed behind closed doors.”

  
  


Yang was busy staring at the scroll, her attention no longer on the name but rather the issue date of the identification. It had been issued on October thirty-first but that wasn’t what caught her eye, though that did line up with her sister’s birthday, what had her attention was the year it was issued. The date on the scroll said it was issued five years from then. 

“Students!” Their teacher arrived not a minute later, sweeping into the clearing with her weapon drawn and emerald eyes flashing, “The bullheads will arrive momentarily! Please return to the pickup location.” 

No one wanted to defy their terrifying headmistress and started filling out of the clearing and back to the larger one where the bullheads would land. 

“Team RWBY. You are the ones who tended to… her… wounds….” The blonde teacher trailed off as she finally laid eyes on the injured woman on the ground, her eyes widening as she took in her appearance. When her eyes darted to Yang she saw the young girl shake her head in the negative as the student pulled out a scroll and showed the woman’s identification to the teacher.

“Miss Rose?” she mumbled.

“Yes, Miss Goodwitch?” She flinched when Ruby responded and looked between the two who had the same name. 

“I’m going to need you to give a blood sample when we get back to Beacon.” She recovered quickly and feigned addressing her student from the beginning. 

* * *

  
  
  


Consciousness, when it returned, returned quickly for Ruby. On instinct she kept her eye close and evened out her breathing. Slowly she analyzed her surroundings finding she was on a barely comfortable bed and could smell antiseptic. Some kind of infirmary or hospital, then. Given the bandages she could feel all across her body, she had been tended to. Of course, if it was an enemy she would have been executed already. Faintly she could hear the breathing of another individual, very close too. If she had to guess she would put them within arms reach of her bed. They must be waiting for her, she surmised. 

“I can wait here all day for you to stop pretending you are asleep.” The male voice sounded out in the near silent room, the tone unfamiliar but the way of speaking infinitely more so. Ruby’s good eye opened to see an older man sitting at her bedside, mug in one hand and cane in the other. It was weird, to her, seeing Ozpin once again. This also meant that what she’d seen earlier had, in fact, not been a dream. She’d grown so used to Oscar that she’d almost forgotten what the man she’d originally met what like. He was the same yet different and she had to remind herself that this was the first one she knew, even if not the first _him._

Headmaster Ozpin looked at her with a critical gaze from over his spectacles. His dark green suit matching his silver hair and giving him an almost noble image, certainly a mysterious one.

“Imagine my surprise, “ He spoke, apparently deciding he’d waited long enough, “When on my academy’s ground appears a grievously wounded woman. A woman, who just so happens to bear the same name and appearance of a first year student, wearing this.” He gestured with his mug to the golden circlet sitting next to her bed on the small table.

“Hehe, high fashion?” she tried, her mind racing for a reasonable explanation.

The headmaster merely raised one, unimpressed, eyebrow at her, “Miss Rose. Please. Tell me exactly _what_ is going on.” 

He was anxious. Of course he would be. Two of the most powerful things in the world showed up in the hands of some random girl who also shouldn’t exist.

“I’m not really sure, Oz.” She answered, slipping into the old nickname for him, “One minute we were fighting Salem and the next….” She gestured around her. At the mention of Grimm Queen Ozpin nearly dropped his mug, eyes widening in a show of surprise she’d never seen in him before.

“You were fighting Salem? Why? No. How?” 

“Before that, Ozpin, what’s today’s date?”

He blinked owlishly but listed it of and her eyes mimicked his from a moment ago, widening, “Eleven years?”

“Pardon, Miss Rose?”

She chuckled to herself, not really believing it but having no other choice she just rolled with it, “It appears, Professor, that I’m a time traveller. You’re right. I am Ruby Rose, just a Ruby from eleven years in the future.”

“I see.” He took a pensive sip from his mug, eyes focused on a distant object.

“You see? Oz, I’m from the future.”

“I heard.”

“You sound underwhelmed.”

“My apologies, Miss Rose, but the… well I wouldn’t call it possibility. Ah, yes, the ridiculous notion had crossed my mind after I saw your identification and the blood-work came back as a match. When divine relics and magic are involved, one tends to need an open mind.” She could have sworn she saw the corners of his lips turn upwards before he hid it in taking a sip from his mug.

Ruby closed her eyes, asking for patience as she dealt with man once again. She’d almost forgotten how infuriating it could be talking to the several thousand year old wizard. The silver haired man leaned forward, his face once again serious.

“Why do you have the relics.”

“Oh right!” She snapped a fist into her hand as if just remembering something, “You should probably vault the ones I brought.”

“That won’t be necessary.” She lifted an eyebrow, “The ones you brought seem to have been rendered inert. They are, for all intents and purposes, paperweights now.”

She blinked a few times, letting the info settle in as she looked at the circlet near her. If she looked closely there was a lack of luster to the gem set in the front of it. 

“Miss Rose I would like to ask you how much you know and just why you were fighting a creature like Salem.”

“As far as how much I know…. Well pretty much everything. How you and Salem became immortal. How the relics came to be and all that.” Ruby sat up, fluffing the pillows so that she could lean back and have a conversation with him instead of laying there awkwardly. 

“And as for the fight with Salem?” Oz leaned in intently.

Ruby grimaced. She knew this wouldn’t be pleasant, “We were desperate. Those of us that were left, that is. It was a crazy idea but we were tired of the war.”

“War?”

“Yeah.” She looked Ozpin eye to eye, the memories of the last eleven years weighing her down. Slowly, falteringly, she began to lay her story out before him. Her past but his future. Or theirs. By the end Ozpin looked to have aged decades, his paradoxically youthful face set from granite and the mug with Beacon’s emblem sat abandoned on the nearby table. 

“Thank you, Miss Rose.” He finally said, voice low.

“Huh?” the brunette responded eloquently.

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done so far. It can’t have been easy.”

This wasn’t something she’d seen from him before, all his years seemed to catch up to him at that moment looking impossibly old to her. She drew the blankets around her, the recently dredged up memories flashing once more through her mind.

“It wasn’t easy. I… I watched my friends die. My family. One at a time. Until it was just me and Jaune.”

He stayed silent for a moment as he closed his eyes and opened them again, slowly, “I’m sorry. I failed you.”

Her head snapped up, eyes wide, “No! Oz, no. You’re as much of a victim as the rest of us. You didn’t choose this life.”

He smiled at her, nodding gratefully if not with a hint of sadness as well, “Maybe so, but I have the power, and therefore the responsibility, to change things for the better.”

“Then I guess we’re in the same boat.” She continued when he gave her a questioning look, “I have the knowledge. I can make a difference. What happened to me doesn’t have to happen to me. Well, the young me at least.”

“Indeed, Miss Rose.” Ozpin smiled a little more genuinely, “Which brings us around to what to do from now on.”

“I’m all ears Oz.”

* * *

  
  
  


Yang fast-walked towards Beacon’s infirmary, she wasn’t running because if Miss G caught her it would lead to a lecture which would lead to her not getting answers for forever longer. Roses kept flying off of her sister as she resisted using her semblance, she’d been caught using it in the hallways by the deputy headmistress.

Once.

The other two tagged along and despite Weiss’ insistence that it was on sufferance, neither could conceal the curiosity burning in their eyes. And who could blame them? It had been a few days since the incident in Forever Fall and they hadn’t heard a thing from either the headmaster or his deputy regarding the woman they had found there. The other Ruby had been the talk of the dorm as theories flew fast and thick between the team. 

Blake seemed to think it was a long lost relative or something while Weiss was thinking it was some kind of clone. Ruby, their Ruby, kept insisting the woman was a time traveler. 

They’d all had a good laugh at that, though their leader’s pout had been legendary. 

Yang couldn’t make up her mind at who exactly the woman was. She looked almost identical to Summer. A look alike was a possibility but having the same silver eyes was an astronomical coincidence. The relative angle had promise, though it didn’t account for her name. Why would she have the name Ruby Rose unless it was intentional?

The blond looked at her younger sister who was almost vibrating with barely restrained energy as they made their way through the corridors of the school. If this woman had plans for Ruby then she would stop it. It was simple, she liked simplicity. Of course just because she _liked_ things to be simple didn’t mean she was, though she was happy to let others think that way. They would learn or they’d get knocked on their ass. Again, simple.

As they burst into the main foyer of the medical wing they were greeted with the stern visage of Doctor Violet, Beacon’s Chief of Medical Staff, she got very angry if you called her Head Nurse. She gave them the room number with a strict warning of what would happen if they caused a ruckus, making it clear that the only reason they could even see the woman from Forever Fall was because Ozpin had made the request. They had gotten the message to their scrolls just a few minutes ago from the headmaster himself, telling that answers awaited them. 

Ruby was the first to burst through the door, the rest of her team hot on her heels. Yang finally caught a glimpse of the person and the striking resemblance to their mother (Summer was her mom, not her egg donor) washed over her. It made her heart ache as she missed the woman dearly. Even Ruby seemed to falter, though only a step. 

“Are you from the future!?” Their leader blurted out causing their resident heiress to slap her palm to her forehead. 

The woman in the bed blinked owlishly at the young leader and, side by side, their resemblance was uncanny. If she didn’t know better she really would say it was a future Ruby. There were differences, however, her hair was longer, down to her shoulders. Then there was the obvious lack of a left eye. A large patch made of medical gauze covered the remains, or lack thereof, from view as the wound healed. Discolorations from bruised were already faded and nearly invisible while a lot of the shallower wounds were almost fully healed, another miracle of Aura. 

“Uhhh. Hey.” The woman said cheerfully, politely ignoring Ruby’s first words to her.

Dragging Ruby back by her hood, ignoring the protests, Yang introduced herself, “Hey. I’m Yang, This is Blake, Weiss, and my little sister Ruby.” If anything it was just to get the conversation started, how did you start a conversation with a potential doppelganger?

“Yeah. I, uh, I kinda know.” She said, nervously scratching her cheek, “I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Ruby Rose and I come from the future, eleven years in the future, to be exact.”

“Called it!” A young Ruby Rose shouted out, pumping her fist into the air.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls try to get some answers out of the mysterious woman who shares Ruby's name.

Displaced

2

  
  


* * *

“Prove it. Prove you’re Ruby.” Yang crossed her arms imperiously. Blake looked to the woman in the infirmary bed, she looked unconcerned with the blonde, even going so far as to sport a smirk. The faunus could admit to still being a disbeliever, time-travel just seemed far too illogical. She couldn’t help but assess the various wounds the older Ruby had acquired. There was a medical eyepatch covering her right eye and underneath the medical gown she could see gauze wrapped around her torso with one of her wrists in a splint. 

“Well,” The older Ruby got more comfortable, “When you were twelve you unlocked your semblance, setting fire to the living room curtains. You blamed it on Uncle Qrow.”

Blake tried to gauge Yang’s reaction but happened to see their Ruby nodding along. 

_Huh, I’ll have to remember that._

“If that’s not enough,” The older woman continued, “Yang wet the bed until- mmmmmf!” 

She wasn’t allowed to finish as a hand clamped over her mouth attached to a frantic Yang, “And you’re definitely Ruby!” There was a desperate edge to her voice that had even Blake leaning forward, interesting in what she’d been about to say. 

“Oh man this is so exciting! What’s it like in the future! What kind of upgrades did you make to Crescent Rose! Oh! And what’d you do to those Ursa!”

The older version of their leader blinked owlishly, “Oh gods, was I really this bad?”

Blake felt her lip quirk up as Weiss answered, “Well at least you have self awareness.”

“Ooooh that’s cold Ice Queen.” Elder Ruby’s attention focused on her partner as she removed Yang’s hand from her mouth.

“Hey!” 

“Weisscream aside, how did you end up here?” Yang recovered and asked over her teammate’s protests. 

“Well if you must know….” She leaned forward, a conspiratorial look upon her face, one hand coming up and cupping her cheek like she was about to whisper. Elder Ruby looked from side to side as if to make sure no one was listening in, “I ran really, REALLY, fast.”  
  


“Well if you don’t want to tell us then say so!” Mount Weiss erupted. 

“The how really isn’t important is it? I’m here and here to stay.” She got out between giggles, she really seemed to be enjoying messing with Weiss, “It really is great to see you guys again.”

Blake caught it, but she wasn’t sure if any of the others had noticed but future Ruby’s eyes seemed to lose focus for a second then then tear up, though it was gone a second later. Something must have not sat right with Yang either because she frowned.

“Wait, how long’s it been?”

From the way Ruby said it, it sounded like it had been a long time, surely they were still a team, right? Blake didn’t want to think her budding friendship with these girls was going to end, she well and truly like them. Even Weiss, kind of. 

“Ehhhh, a while.” Her silver eyes suddenly found interest in and empty corner of the room causing Blake’s own to narrow, “Like a few years.”

“Why? We’re still a team right?!” The younger Ruby looked devastated by the thought that her team would break up and even her older self relented with a small smile at her.

“We’ll always be team RWBY. It’s just…. Things aren’t so good when I’m from. I’ve been too busy to visit.”

Blake furrowed her eyebrows as something nagged at the back of her mind. Something wasn’t adding up with her story, though the excuse seemed to work for their leader who cheered up immensely. She’d have to come back to that later, right then there was something else she wanted to ask.

“What do you mean by not so good? What’s going to happen?” Blake asked. Ruby’s, it was getting confusing now, face darkened for a moment and she got a lot more serious. 

“War. A long and bloody one, at that.” she almost whispered, her eyes losing focus and looking off into something in the distance. 

“A war? With who?”

Ruby seemed to regain a little life and looked hard at Blake, silver eyes seeming to look through her soul, “You guys don’t need to know that right now. I’m here and I’m going to stop the war from happening in the first place.”

“Oh! Oh! Oh! We’ll help!” Little Ruby got excited. “Please tell me we can help!”

The woman from the future chuckled, it was a light sound that sounded genuine and airy, “You can help by studying hard and becoming the best huntress you can be.”

Ruby pouted, crossing her arms, “But I wanna be a hero too.”

Ruby, older -Blake really needed to figure something out about addressing both of them- chuckled and ruffled her younger self’s hair, “There’s no such thing as a hero, Ruby.”

The hidden faunus’ eyes went wide and she noticed she wasn’t the only one, Yang looked shocked as well. What was even more disturbing was how lightly she said it. Both Blake and her partner flinched when Ruby clapped her hands together, distracting her younger self who seemed to be having trouble processing what she’d been told. 

“Enough of that, while you’re here I should tell you.” Blake noticed the deflection, “ I can’t very well keep going by Ruby, and since _I’m_ the outsider here I’ll have to ask you to call me by something else. I’ve had a talk with Oz and he’s setting me up with a new identity. From now on you can all call me Carmine Rose.” 

Weiss put her hand to her chin, “That’s actually not bad.”

“Hehe, yeah Oz shot down Rouge pretty fast, Carmine was his suggestion.” She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. 

“Waitwaitwait!” Ruby exclaimed, waving her hands wildly in the air to get everyone’s attention, “You still haven’t answered the most important question. What upgrades did you make to Crescent Rose and where is he?”

Ru- Carmine grimaced as the mention of their beloved scythe, “Ruby, I have some bad news. I… uh… I was fighting a really strong opponent and Crescent Rose broke.”

Ruby looked as though she had taken a physical blow, stepping back and into her older sister in shock. She was visibly trembling and probably would have collapsed had Yang not gotten a hold of her in time. The blonde led her younger sister to the sole chair in the room. Carmine looked conflicted and tried to console her younger self.

“I’m sorry Ruby, she was incredibly dangerous, and strong.” Ruby seemed catatonic, “Look I have an idea for a new weapon, you wanna help me build it?”

It took a few seconds of Ruby blinking before she turned to Carmine, “A new baby?”

“Mhm. It might be better this way, people might ask awkward questions if we both had a Crescent Rose, he’s one of a kind right?”

Ruby’s face lit up and Blake had to suppress a chuckle, she truly was a weapons nut. 

“And that would be my cue to step in.” Sounded a familiar voice from behind them. Blake nearly jumped out of her skin, having not sensed the headmaster’s approach. He stood there with the mysterious smirk on his face and a scroll in his hand, “Carmine Rose is now officially a person. Happy birthday.”

Ozpin handed her the scroll which she opened to check the identification page, after seeming satisfied and held up her own scroll and initiated the transfer of files. After a few minutes she handed her old one to the headmaster, “Keep it safe Oz, there’s some serious stuff on there.”

He nodded and tucked it away into his pocket, “How goes the reunion between sisters? Has it been enlightening?”

“Not really. She won’t tell us anything.” Weiss said in exasperation. 

Carmine stuck her tongue out at the heiress while the headmaster merely chuckled, “My apologies but I asked her to withhold some information. Knowledge of the future can be dangerous. Now, Carmine is still healing so I’m going to have to ask you to come back again another time. She needs her rest.” 

Much to their disappointment they were ushered out of the room, Blake caught Carmine’s silver eye as she looked back. The woman winked and blew a kiss at her, though now that she thought of it, how does someone with one eye wink? She obviously winked, was it just an exaggerated blink?

Blake paused a second in wonder to where her thought had wandered off to and blushed slightly in embarrassment. Once they were away from Headmaster Ozpin and making their way back to the dorm the nature of their conversation naturally turned back to Carmine. 

“I can’t wait to help build her new weapon! I wonder what it’s gonna be!” Ruby was practically over the moon at the idea of building a new weapon and was gushing to Yang who was taking it with sisterly indulgence.

Weiss slowed down to hold her own conversation with Blake, the faunus eyed her warily. She didn’t hate her, it would be hypocritical to judge her based on her name. Or at least that’s what she told herself though she couldn’t help but feel that the heiress did nothing to disprove the rumors about her. 

“Ruby… I mean Carmine was acting very suspicious.”

Blake nodded along with the heiress, “It seems she didn’t want to talk about our future selves.”

“Exactly. I understand the reasons that the headmaster gave but I feel like there’s more to it than ‘dangerous information’.”  
  


“Maybe I should ask her alone?”

“You think she’d tell you?” Blake paused, she didn’t think the heiress had meant it to sound rude.

“It can’t hurt to try. I can circle back. Can you make an excuse for me?”

Weiss nodded and Blake slipped away while the two sisters were chatting away. The black haired girl relied on the stealth skills she had cultivated in her time with the White Fang, she retraced her steps back to the infirmary. Waiting for a time when Doctor Violet turned away to sneak past her and into the wing that Carmine was in. 

When she opened the door to the woman’s room she caught sight of her gazing into her scroll, tears streaming silently from her eye. She started as Blake entered but didn’t bother to hide what she was looking at.

“Visiting hours are over, Blake.” Her voice was thick, it was clear she had been on the verge of breaking down and suddenly Blake felt a sense of guilt wash over her at witnessing such a vulnerable scene. 

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” She responded, getting a small smile for her effort, “Are you okay?” Blake couldn’t help the question slipping out of her mouth, she didn’t even know why she asked it. No, she did. Despite Carmine being so different she was still her team leader and no matter how much she had changed Blake could still see the Ruby in her, a person who was her friend, and that person was suffering in front of her.

Carmine let out a strained laugh, “How can I be okay. I’m in the past, Blake. The people I knew, they’re gone. And you guys… you…”

Blake could put two and two together, she’d had the feeling earlier but that reaction and the photo on the scroll, she realized as she approached, was one of an older team RWBY. It was a a group shot with the four of them huddled close together around Blake, and she made note of the fact that Yang seemed to be missing one of her arms. Any doubts she might have had to the woman’s identity were long gone, washed away by the proof of a picture. The team looked happy.

“We aren’t away on any missions, are we.” Blake said low in a matter of fact voice.

“Am I that transparent?”

“You may be older but your ability to lie doesn’t seem to have changed.”

Carmine let out a breath, “Out of both team JNPR and RWBY only Jaune and I are left… or were left. This picture is the last one we took together as a team.”

“What happened?” Blake asked with morbid curiosity. 

Carmine just stared at her for a moment and then started talking, her eyes focusing on a past memory, “Weiss died… she was assassinated. In her sleep. Turned out some extremists from the White Fang were still around even after they were destroyed.”

_What?! The White Fang? Destroyed?_

Blake’s eyes widened and she even felt her ears strain against her bow momentarily before she regained control. Carmine still noticed.

“It’s cool Blake, I know you’re a faunus. You didn’t exactly keep that a secret very long.”

“How exactly…?”

“Did we find out? You kinda blurted it out to Weiss after you guys got into an argument. I like your ears though, they’re pretty.”

Even Blake couldn’t help the flush that tainted her cheeks at the compliment, she was more used to the derision of humans. Carmine's weak smile faltered after a moment, the happy memory seeming to giving way to a bittersweet one.

“You and Yang died when Vale fell, overrun by the Grimm.” She drew her legs up to her chest as she continued, “It’s difficult, you know? Seeing you all here alive when I know you’re dead.”

“We are alive, what happened to us hasn’t happened yet.”

Carmine stared sharply with her good eye, “No, it did happen. Maybe not in this timeline but it happened to me. You have no idea what it was like, Blake. I had to get the news that my partner was never coming back. And you and Yang? The day Vale fell you were defending the walls with everyone else while I was tending to an incursion on the other side of the city. When the barricades were overcome and you two knew you weren’t going to make it out do you know what Yang did?”

She didn’t pause for a response, “She called me. On her scroll. She called me to tell me she loved me, Blake.” The tears were streaming freely now down the side of her cheek, her voice racking with barely restrained sobs, “I heard my sister’s last moments as the both of you fought to your last.”

“I’m so sorry.” It was all Blake could say. She didn’t have siblings so she couldn’t imagine what that would be like, it was beyond her and all she could offer was empty words of condolences. 

Carmine shook her head, “It was two years ago that that happened, “ She continued in a whisper, “I thought I was going to die in that battle. Join my sister. And then I end up here. Team RWBY is alive. But not _my_ team RWBY.”

The silence stretched on between them, Carmine continuing to let the tears of grief roll down her face. With a sudden urge Blake stepped forward, embracing the woman. She didn’t know how to comfort someone but something told her, pushed her, to try and ease the pain of the broken woman before her. Carmine finally let out a stuttering sob into Blake’s shirt, her hands coming round to her back. She didn’t know how long they stayed like that, only that when they finally parted, the older woman had red rimmed eyes and there was a wet spot on Blake’s outfit.

“I’m sorry Blake.” She said with a hoarse voice as she wiped her tears, “But thanks for putting up with me.”

Blake forced a small smile for the older woman, “It’s fine. I may not have been what you’ve been through, but my time with the White Fang showed me a lot of things I’d rather not remember. So I guess what I’m saying is that I sort of understand where you’re coming from.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone can really relate to what I’m going through, not unless there’s a cabal of unwitting time-travelers out there.”

“Still though, time-travel, it’s hard to wrap my head around it…. Well I suppose it’s not. I’ve read those kinds of stories before but to see something out of fantasy come to life right in front of me is…”

“Bizarre?”

“Yeah.”

“Heh, try living it kitty-cat.” Blake frowned at the nickname, but Carmine stopped for a moment and gave her a considering look, “Thank you Blake. I feel…. A bit better now.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Blakes brow furrowed in confusion and Carmine simply laughed at her.

“You were here, Blake. That’s enough. Now what can I do for you? There has to be a reason you snuck back to my room when no one else was here.”

Blake hesitated. She had what she’d come for, the real answer to what their status was in the future, her future, but not the reason, “Why didn’t you tell us what happened to us in the future?”

The future woman simply paused and and then reluctantly explained, “forgive me for not wanting to relive the moment when Yang and the woman I… Yang and you died.” She sighed, “Though it looks like I did anyways. Look, you guys are students right now. I want it to stay that way, not for you to be burdened with a future that won’t even exist anymore.”

Blake caught the slip but wasn’t sure what to make of it, “But it did exist. That’s what you said.”

That earned her a scowl, “Maybe I did but I’m your leader and you should do as I say.”

“You said we weren’t _your_ team.” Blame it on seeing her in a vulnerable state but Blake couldn’t help but feel closer to the woman, and a bit cheeky.

“Quit using my words against me.” Carmine complained though there was no real weight behind them. It looked like she’d gotten more comfortable around Blake too. And now that she’d thought about it she realized what it was that was bugging her about the woman. She’d been on edge the entire time, like a coiled spring ready to burst into action but now she could tell the woman was visibly relaxing. Carmine was by no means letting her guard down but she wasn’t completely on guard now., “Now if that’s all you should probably get back to your dorm… unless you _want_ to spend the night with me?”

Blake rolled her eyes at the woman’s waggling eyebrows and bid her a good night. When she finally got back to her dorm it was to see the other three waiting for her expectantly. It seemed that Weiss had informed them of what she had gone to do. She thought back to that scene, the red-rimmed silver eyes. She could understand why Carmine had wanted to not talk about her past. She looked at them and all she could see was how Yang and Weiss would die. Even if it wouldn’t happen, Blake still found herself dwelling on their fates.

“Sorry, she wouldn’t tell me anything.” Blake lied.

  
  
  


“Boss! Boss!” The man ran up to his leader and stood panting for breath, “It’s a huntsman! Vernal has been beaten.”

Raven Branwen rolled her eyes, though she understood why they needed her she lamented at their weakness. Still, if even Vernal, her own disciple, could not beat this huntsman then perhaps he would provide to her a worthy challenge. It had been so long since she’d been last tested, the lack of a worthy opponent delivering her to tedium. The bandit leader tried to temper her expectations as she was led to where this hunstman supposedly was. 

Her tribe had made a ring around the man, weapons drawn but none approaching. Off to the side one of the tribe tended to an unconscious Vernal. Raven quickly checked her student and saw no permanent marks on her which lead to her blood pumping just a little faster in anticipation. If this man could defeat Vernal so easily then the possibility of a good fight was much higher. 

Raven tried not to let her disappointment show on her face as she saw the man who had bested her student. He stood stock still in the middle of the plaza of the village they had raided, breathing ragged as his arms hung down almost limp at his sides. The huntsman’s blond hair was caked with dried blood that had run down his face and stained his clothing which was shredded from multiple wounds he had sustained. 

“You need me to deal with this? Vernal had him almost finished. You should have been down with this fool already.”

It was one of her more experienced raiders who answered her, “Raven he was like this when we found him. He wouldn’t budge so Vernal sought to move him herself. You can see how that ended for her.”

A spark of interest lit within her. If it had happened as he had said then this man was indeed very strong. This led to an interesting though that quirked her lips up into an amused grin, “Very well. Yes I think I’d like to take him with us.”

The bandit looked surprised but didn’t question his chief’s words. Instead he took a step back as she advanced on the huntsman. In one long, slow motion she drew her sword and approached. She could tell she had his attention, his sapphire eyes bore into her own though she was little reason within them. The man was barely alive, a cornered animal that only knew how to bite. 

When she got within a few feet of the man she noticed his grip tighten on his sword’s hilt a fraction of a second before he leapt into action. The huntsman’s blade whistled towards her throat but was intercepted by her red blade. When the edges made contact the man pulled his back and made to impale her.

It was a clumsy strike but still a powerful one as Raven sidestepped the thrust with ease. There was no finesse and no technique, just instinct. Nonetheless she found herself almost smiling at the hunstman before her. He was fast and powerful, obviously a skilled huntsman. Few could challenge her and she felt the desire to cross blades with the man when he was at his best stir within her. 

Lifting her foot up she brought it down on his extended blade, trapping the sword’s tip to the ground. In one smooth motion she brought the pommel of her sword into his guard, striking his temple with a single solid blow. The blond huntsman crumpled to the ground, finally unconscious. Out of curiosity Raven leaned down and rummaged through his pockets and brought forth the man’s scroll.

Flicking the device open she looked at the identification on the screen.

“Jaune Arc.” As she read through the information one thing caught her eye.

The date on the scroll.

  
  
  


* * *

Team RWBY filed into Miss Goodwitch’s combat class right behind team JNPR. Ruby was busy talking with Pyrrha and Blake was absorbed into whatever book she was reading this time. Yang, however, had other things one her mind. It was been almost two whole weeks since Carmine had arrived. Ruby was the one who had spent the most time with her, helping her build a new weapon. It bothered her because as much of a weapons geek that Ruby was, she didn’t gush to her team about what she was working one. She said it was a surprise and that they’d all see it soon enough. 

The loud whisperings were enough to bring Yang’s attention back to the class as they sat down. The first thing she sa when she sat down were the two people standing next to Goodwitch, hence the whispering. One was Carmine, now dressed in new clothes. She had replaced the town goth-lolita clothes her sister favored for something a little more modern, Yang snickered at the idea of a woman from the future needing ‘more modern’ clothes. Now she had a dark red leather jacket that had a down hood, around her waist was a familiar bright red cloth tied like a belt around black jeans and some knee length boots. 

And standing beside her was an even more familiar figure. Tall with dark hair flecked with grey was her uncle, his large weapon strapped to his back. He appeared to be in deep conversation with Goodwitch and Carmine until Ruby screamed out his name. He looked up and caught her eye before smiling and waving at his niece. Yang had to pull her sister back down into her seat amidst stares from the rest of the students gathered around them. Even then that didn’t stop Ruby from gushing about her ‘awesome uncle Qrow’ to anyone who would listen, namely Pyyrha. 

“Students.” Miss Goodwitch cleared her throat and the class became dead silent, they had all learned long ago to fear the deputy headmistress, “Today we’ll have something of a treat for you all. We will be holding an exhibition match today between two official hunters.”

The class exploded into murmuring and Yang’s sister, seated next to her, nearly burst into rose petals with excitement. Even Yang herself could say she was interested now. Even their other two teammates were riveted on the teacher, Blake’s book lay forgotten forgotten. 

“I’d like to introduce you to our two combatants for today. This is Mr. Qrow Branwen and Ms. Carmine Rose.” Goodwitch motioned to the two hunters as they stepped onto the stage. Yang could feel herself getting a little excited. Her uncle had to be one of the strongest hunters she knew, so if he was fighting Carmine that had to mean they were on a close skill level, right?

“Like always combat will continue until one combatant’s aura enters the red or either one forfeits.” She turned to the two on the stage, “Are you ready?”

Qrow brought his sword out and held it ready, shooting a cocky smirk at his future niece and nodding to Miss Goodwitch. When she looked at Carmine, the woman responded with her own cocky smirk that mirrored her uncle’s and reaching under her jacket, just below her arms. From within she pulled out two bright red handguns, colored the same shade as Crescent Rose. The two guns were fairly large and even from a distance Yang could tell they were high calibre. It seemed Ruby still had a thing for heavy hitting weapons. The guns themselves didn’t have traditional pistol grips but instead were almost completely straight, bending only just a few degrees from the barrels of the weapons. 

Yang knew she could expect something more coming from something her sister had designed and looking at all the extra material around the barrel that was obviously meant for mechashift, she knew it at least had one more form. A quick glance to her younger sister showed her grinning expectantly at her older self and Yang found that she was on the edge of her seat as well. They hadn’t had been able to gauge how good Ruby had become in the future and thus Carmine was an unknown quantity, it looked like they were finally about to find out.

Miss Goodwitch stood to the side, just off the stage, and raised a hand in the air before slashing it down in front of her.

“You may begin!”


	3. 3

Displaced

  
  


3

* * *

  
  


Carmine was gone before Goodwitch finished saying the word to begin. She rematerialized, at least that’s the way it appeared to the students watching, to Qrow’s left, cracking off several rounds at him. Her uncle was ready for it, having swung Harbinger off of his back and into place, using the broadside to block the dust rounds. Glynda blinked at the the opening of the fight.

The young woman was fast, probably faster than anyone she’d seen before, probably thanks to her semblance. The telltale rose petals floated about the stage though the semblance was almost unrecognizable from the young student she was right now. It seemed that Qrow had only been able to keep up because he’d seen her preparatory motions, the tensing of motions and the leading of the eyes that came before planned movement. It was what full fledged hunters often relied on, the speed of hunter on hunter combat often moving too fast for most reaction speeds. 

The huntsman responded in kind, his sword drooping at the hilt, exposing the barrels of his ranged weapon, a huge blast erupting from them. Again, Carmine disappeared but he was ready for it, moving in the same direction. Naturally, she arrived first but he was close on her, his sword coming down in a powerful two-handed slash. Carmine smirked and thumbed a switch on both weapons, they whirred and shifted, blades folding out to take the shape of twin hand scythes. Her left came up to meet his blade, diverting it with hers so that it missed while her right flicked out towards Qrow’s face. His eyes widened as he pulled his head back but not before the blade scored a line across his cheek, his aura preventing it from drawing blood. 

Qrow pulled back a few paces, his sword waving to ward her her off as he scowled at her. Grin in place she twirled her twin weapons in front of him, intricate patterns of silver flashed as she put on a flashy display. Glynda had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at it, though it did display the young woman’s familiarity with her chosen weapons. Given the younger version’s attachment to her scythe it was odd to see her relying on a different weapon. 

“That style’s familiar.” Qrow noted, his eyes narrowing at his niece, watching her cautiously. 

“It should be.” Carmine said innocently, “It’s the Grimm Reaper’s.”

Qrow’s face reflected the surprise that Glynda almost expressed. The Grimm Reaper was a legendary huntress that disappeared many years ago. 

“You say that like you studied under her or something.” The older man switched his weapon into scythe form and started circling around Carmine, her doing the same but in the other direction. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She said teasingly before charging at her uncle in a blisteringly fast rush. 

Glynda noted how she dual-wielded the weapons. It was a fallacy to try and use both at the same time, one hand parries while the other strikes in rapid succession. Dual weapon styles relied on precise positioning and the creation of holes in an enemy’s defense. Such weren’t as effective against Grimm as they were human opponents. It spoke of a very bloody past that necessitated the learning of such. 

Qrow caught a double overhead slash on the haft of Harbinger and sent a snap kick into Carmine’s gut. The young woman surprised everyone by letting go over her weapons to grab her uncle’s ankle and his eyes widened for the second time that match as he realized his mistake. Her smile took on a vicious edge as she pulled his leg forward while her own foot flashed out and caught the side of the knee on the leg he was standing on, aura or not the joint buckled causing him to slam into floor. 

In a moment she had her hands back on her weapons, now using the curved blades to attempt to wrench his weapon from him, however no matter how strong she was Qrow was a powerful huntsman in his own right and managed recover by tugging his scythe back and triggering the transformation back into a sword. With a twirl and a flip he managed to get back on his feet right in time to block another right handed slash from his niece, this time, though, she got under his guard and her left weapon came with with the barrel against his chin. 

At the last second his head jerked to the side as she fired and he felt the wave of heat along his cheek, another narrow miss. Qrow caught a face full of rose petals,. Obscuring his vision as he felt her move to his side. He grabbed for her but met only air as she slipped behind him. Rather than waste time looking, the huntsman stabbed his blade backwards at where she should have been positioning to strike at his back. Again he hit only air before he felt an impact slamming the tip down into the stage and two arms wrapping around him, though instead of a familial hug he felt the two blades of her scythes hook around his throat as she coiled her legs around his torso, locking herself like a backpack against him. 

“The match is over!” Glynda called out loudly, knowing that Qrow could do nothing but surrender at this point. Her green eyes slid over to observe the students who sat in silence. To most of them it must have seemed like a brutally short set of exchanges at a blistering speed. Carmine removed her weapons from her uncle’s throat and bent backwards into a handstand before ending up on her feet again, holstering her weapons under her jacket once more.

  
  


Carmine flounced down onto a chair in the adjoining office to the combat room, one reserved for Glynda’s personal use. If the blond haired woman showed any a\ire at her chair being taken, she didn’t show it but moved in to stand between the two full-fledged hunters as Qrow took a seat in one of the chairs reserved for visitors. Despite the stern face she could tell Glynda’s eyes were dazzling; whether that was because she’d overwhelmed Qrow or had displayed skill well above her age she wasn’t sure.

“I knew you were fast kiddo, but hell that was something else.” Qrow finally got out after sipping from his flask. The man really hadn’t changed, or at least hadn’t changed yet. Time travel did weird things to your perception. It had been such a long time since she had seen her favorite, and only, uncle but it put Carmine in a great mood.

“Oh I’m more than just fast. I’ve got the stamina to last too.” Carmine wiggled her eyebrows at him and got a barking laugh from the older man and a roll of the eyes from Ms. Goodwitch, “Believe me now Uncle?”

“Heh. Yeah I do. Semblances are like fingerprints and that’s definitely Ruby’s.” He leaned forward and stared at the woman with intense interest, “When’d you learn those? The Ruby I know would die before learning something other than her scythe. What changed?”

The young silver-eyed woman smiled bitterly, “That’s part of what we need to talk about, Uncle Qrow.”

“Ozpin told you, when you arrived, about Miss Rose’s circumstances?” Glynda chipped in.

“Yeah, as much as I thought he was pullin’ my chain. Somehow the Relic’s sent you back in time while you were fightin’ Salem.” Qrow shook his head, aghast, “You really don’t do anything by halves, do ya.”

“When Yang’s your sister, you can’t afford to.” Carmine smirked, earning a chuckle from the man, “But  _ that  _ was more of a desperate move, more than anything.”

She continued when he raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. With a sigh her face fell and Carmine got serious with the tone of her voice shifting towards grim, “Salem was winning. Atlas and Vale had fallen, Mistral on the precipice and Vacuo, the last bastion, overflowing with refugees. My team… my team dead and the only friends I had left were Jaune and Oscar. So a plan was drawn up between us and the headmistress of Vacuo. Utilizing three of the relics Jaune and I would face off against Salem. Use destruction to weaken her and then creation with my powers to seal her away, forever.”

“And then something went wrong.” Qrow chimed in, guessing where the story was going.

Carmine nodded, “We were losing. She was so much stronger than we anticipated. She took my eye and our plan ended in shambles. With it gone, my powers are weaker and the both of us were on the verge of death. Jaune took a blow meant for me and then… then I was here. Or, well, Forever Fall. But yeah, you know the rest. As for these guys,” She patted her jacket where her weapons were holstered, “ I named them Bloom and Scatter. I built them after I realized that while Crescent Rose is the best weapon ever, that’s at slaying Grimm. I needed to learn something else to fight the more… human enemies. Unfortunately I left them behind with Oscar before our fight with Salem.”

“I know of Mr. Arc but I’m afraid I don’t know this Oscar Pine you mentioned. He’s not in the student database at any of the four schools.” Glynda spoke up from the side.

“You wouldn’t. Right now he’d be on a farm in Anima.”

“A farmhand was helping you save the world?!” My. Goodwitch’s eye grew wide and Qrow started snickering.

“Like Jaune’s different?”

“What do you mean by that?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously and then Ruby remembered that Jaune had falsified his transcripts. Oops. Carmine apologised to Jaune in her head and tried to distract Glynda from finding out exactly what she had meant.

“Oscar was Ozpin’s next incarnation.” 

This abruptly brought attention from both the other individuals in the room, “Oz died?” Qrow’s face twisted in discomfort.

“Yeah a long time ago. Well, for me. I knew Oscar a lot longer than Ozpin. Kind of.” Okay, so time travel was  _ really  _ weird, especially when you knew a nigh immortal wizard. Glynda was rubbing her temples and looked like she was trying to stave off an impending headache. 

“Alright I think I get the idea but why ask for me, specifically? I mean, I know I’m awesome but I kinda in the middle of something and if things are going the way you’re saying then all the more reason to have me out in the field.” 

Carmine exchanged a brief glance with Glynda before turning back to Qrow, this was the biggest reason she’d asked Ozpin to call the man back to Vale, “Because I already know most of what’s about to happen. We need you here, the threat’s coming to Beacon. Everything that happens in my future starts here.”

“They’re after Amber, Qrow.”

Qrow’s light red eyes hardened, “So, they tracked her here huh. Guess we weren’t as clever as we thought we were.”

“As such,” Glynda continued, “Ozpin is using the information Carmine has provided to come up with a plan of action.”

“What, we can’t just go and take ‘em out?”

“Ozpin wants to hold off on that, for now. He seems to be of the opinion that we should wait for the right time to tip our hand. If we act right now we may gain a win immediately but may lose in the long run. Catching a few of her pawns won’t stop Salem.”

Qrow didn’t like the thought of letting people like that run around doing what they wanted, that much obvious from the deep set frown on his face, but he trusted Ozpin enough to defer to the man. It struck Carmine at how different Qrow was from the man he had become in his last days. The revelations about the man he trusted and admired had not gone well, even up until he died. Losing his ability to trust others he’d thrown himself into protecting their generation like martyr and had died like one.

The elder Rose shook her head to clear away from reminiscing about the past. This was a chance to make this up to her friends. She’d failed before but it seems destiny had handed her another chance.She wouldn’t mess this up.

“So do we have a plan of action, then?” Qrow acked.

“For now we will wait, build up our forces. Prepare our students.” Glynda continued, “To that end, Carmine, Beacon welcomes it’s newest professor.”

This was great news to Carmine, she’d been hoping for this and kind of expected it really. It was one of the things she’d suggested to Ozpin and the man had seemed all for it barring a practical exam. Which had just been unwittingly administered by her uncle. Ozpin was a shrewd man, organizing not only a test but a way for her to quickly prove herself to Qrow that she was who she said she was. 

“Professor? Her?” Qrow looked between the two incredulously to which Glynda gave an exasperated roll of her eyes.

“They made you one so why not?”

“Heh, touche.” Qrow grinned, knowing it would get under the woman’s skin.

“Don’t worry Glynda, I won’t sleep with too many of the students.” Carmine couldn’t resist having a laugh as the both stared at her in shock. 

“Ruby… you…” The man was so shocked he didn’t even use her new name. No doubt imagining how his sweet, young niece could make such a joke, “That is a joke, right? He added with a desperate need to know the answer.

“Ahem.” Glynda coughed while sending a glare towards the younger woman, “Putting aside any proclivities you may have.” Her glare threatened her that it had better have been a joke, “You will be teaching a second part of combat class, an extension of my own. Where I critique the students based on peer-to-peer sparring you will working on the foundations that they build upon. Ozpin will be giving you free reign to teach how you will but just know this,” Glynda leaned in, emerald eyes flashing, “I will be paying close attention to your class, Miss Rose.”

Woops, Carmine may have pushed too far with the stern woman though she did make not of the slight dusting of red on her cheeks. The young huntress put up a win in her corner, even if she didn’t dare push it any further. 

“Sure thing Glynda.” Carmine responded with a nervous laugh before glaring at her uncle when he made a whip cracking sound accompanied by the motion. 

_ Like you’re one to talk.  _ She mouthed at the huntsman but to her chagrin he merely shrugged her point off. _ That’s it.  _ She decided, she wouldn’t let her uncle get one up on her, consequences be damned. If she was going to have Glynda’s ire then she might as well go all the way.

“Looks like you’re jealous Glynda.” Carmine smirked, “You can still bend me over a desk if you want? Unless you wanna be the one doing the bending.” 

The look on the older woman’s face was almost worth it there. The deputy headmistress gaped like a fish on land struggling to breath before turning away with a cough. Carmine noted her cheeks reddening even further and her shit eating grin to Yang level proportions. Qrow leaned away from the blond woman in a vain attempt to get any space further away from what he was sure to be an eruption of the most epic size. 

It was to the both of their surprise that Goodwitch left the office with a flimsy excuse of checking up on the students. Once they were left alone the niece and uncle stared at each other in wonderment.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack there, kid. Didn’t they teach you not to prod sleeping Ursa? Especially when your favorite Uncle is in line of sight?”

“Not like you have much competition as my only uncle.” The smirked at each other. Carmine was pleasantly surprised to find out how well they got along now. It was an easy relationship they hadn’t had in her timeline. At least not by the end. The revelation with Oz had changed the man but the one in front of her was her fun loving uncle once again. Not for the first time since she’d come back to the past she was wondering if she could have gone even further back and helped her mother. Carmine would have loved to meet the woman as an adult, the woman she had idolized as a child and teenager. But again she had to shake the thought away, it was enough that she’d come this far back, especially unintentionally. 

“Brat.” The older huntsman shook his head, “How you got corrupted like this is beyond me.”

“Really?” Carmine said, unable to resist another jab at her uncle, “The man who did it smells like booze and can turn into a shitty bird.”

“Hey I’ll have you know that Crows are noble avians.”

“Keep telling yourself that Uncle.”

“Yeah well as long as you don’t let Tai know I can live to see whether that’s true or not.”

The young silver eyed woman couldn’t help it and burst out laughing. Her uncle was bad, she could see her sister any time she wanted, and she was going to fix things so that they lived happily ever after.

She was in a good mood.

  
  
  


* * *

The following day saw their scrolls, all of them, updated with a new message regarding a scheduling change. There was going to be a new class, starting that day, that would alternate with Goodwitch’s combat class. Team RWBY was in the throes of speculating what, exactly, the new combat related class might be teaching and how different it would be from combat class in the first place. They were all seventeen, bar Ruby, and were skilled enough to be able to learn from the spars, that was the purpose of the class. If you couldn’t improve yourself then you didn’t belong in Beacon in the first place. 

Blake could admit to curiosity as to the contents of the new class as well. The Beacon rumor mill was ablaze with whispers about the elder Rose and her fight against the huntsman, Qrow Branwen who was also Ruby and Yang’s uncle.

_ And Carmine’s too.  _ Her mind supplied. 

The whole team was convinced that the class had something to do with the future woman, the whole school even though they didn’t know the truth the spar had grabbed the attention of the whole student body. Carmine had become something of a celebrity, especially among the boys. Trying to ignore her own displeasure at that, the disguised faunus made her way through Beacon’s hallways with her team. Golden eyes strayed over to her white haired teammate and Blake couldn’t help but remember her discussion with Carmine that night. 

The White Fang assassinated Weiss, or what was left of it. The fact that the organization was destroyed unsettled her and left the former terrorist feeling conflicted. On one hand she expected they would have it coming, there was a reason she had left. If they kept seeking such extreme tactics then they would be put down, most likely with extreme violence. On the other was the fact that there were still decent people in the White Fang. Misguided? Yes. But many just wanted better condition, for their children not to be hated just for being born a certain way and were willing to fight for it. Assassination though? That sounded like something Adam would do, as much as it pained her to admit. 

It was while lost in these thoughts that Blake entered the classroom, only really glancing around once their team had taken their seat next to team JNPR. The whispering was quite above and beyond what was rated for combat class until she remembered the message they had all gotten, this was supposed to be a different class and sure enough standing at the head of the room with Miss Goodwitch was the center of her previous thoughts, Carmine. A silver eye met hers and the older woman winked at her. Since she only had one eye it was an exaggerated affair that made it certain she was in fact winking and not blinking with her one eye. 

Blake felt a twinge of heat suffuse her cheeks as she remembered the woman’s comment about her faunus ears. The bell rung before her mind could go anywhere else and the class quickly quailed underneath the stern gaze of Miss Goodwitch who stepped forward. Once she was sure she had everyone’s attention she addressed the students.

“All of you are probably wondering what this new Advanced Combat Class is about. It has come to the attention of the headmaster and I that sparring against one another is not enough for the speed of development we desire to see in our students at Beacon Academy. Now, don’t take this to mean you all are deficient. This is an experiment of a new method, nothing more, to see if we can increase the potential of our first years. To that end, I cannot take on both tasks myself and the reason we decided to try this at all was that a new resource has… dropped into our lap.”

Raising her hand to indicate the woman next to her, she introduced the huntress to the class, “As you may already know from yesterday’s event, this is Carmine Rose, a professional huntress. As of today she is also a professor of Beacon Academy and the one in charge of the Advanced Combat Class.”

With the introduction done Goodwitch stepped back and gave Carmine the floor who stepped forwards and spoke over the excited whispering that had broken out, “That’s me. You can call me Professor, Miss Rose, or a combination of the two. Now this class is designed so I can do what I need to to make sure you all have the foundations to take advantage of anything you learn from Miss Goodwitch.

“However,” She smiled, and Blake thought it looked a little vicious, “This class is no easy mark. I will be breaking you down to see where you can improve. I will also be teaching you other skills needed in combat. The motto is win. That’s it. Winning is survival and the point of this class. I don’t want to see pointless flashiness or over reliance on one weapon.” She cast a meaningful look over at Ruby who squirmed in place. Carmine stared down all of the students one by one and Blake felt a shiver as the intense gaze washed over her.

“Who’s ready to start?”


	4. 4

Displaced

4

  
  
  


* * *

Weiss doubled over on the side of the track, heaving as she took great gulps of air. Her face was almost as red as Ruby’s cape with sweat pouring off of her. The rest of the team wasn’t much better of with their leading being flushed and tired herself but not on the verge of collapse like Weiss was.

“I hate her.” Weiss gasped, “I hate her so much.” The heiress slowly collapsed onto the cool grass, uncaring for the state of things or how she looked. Ruby was the only one who remained standing as the others sat down next to one another.

“I don’t think she’s that bad.” Ruby said with a fair but was ignored.

“How can someone so innocent turn into… into  _ that _ ?” Weiss got out between lungfuls of air and turning her ice blue eyes over to Yang who was equally flush. 

“I dunno, Weiss-cream. You think I can smother it out of her?” Ruby gave her sister a look of betrayal.”

“Yang!”

“It was just a joke.” Yang mumbled.

“You can’t smother your team leader!” Ruby shouted. 

The team had just gotten done with Carmine’s new class and weren’t the only ones collapsed on the ground. Team Juniper was not so far away with only Nora being the one standing. The girl looked almost almost right as rain if it wasn’t for the heavy breathing and slight flush, she was easily the least affected of the entire class. 

Carmine had mysteriously given everyone rucksacks filled to the brim with rocks and told them to run until she said to stop: she didn’t say so until half the class had collapsed. For those that had lasted they got to take a break and at that moment the ones that hadn’t made it were being made to do push ups. At least team RWBY didn’t have to do those. 

The worst part was that their teacher had lead the pack with a similar backpack filled with stones and looked fine. Even Blake glared over at their new professor and Ruby looked at a loss for something to say, their leader was probably hoping they wouldn’t blame her. Because although it  _ was  _ her it also wasn’t. 

Weiss was too exhausted to think about it.

“All right!” Their tormen- teacher shouted out so everyone could hear her, “Class dismissed, get yourselves cleaned up. And remember, we’ll be doing a run like this every time.”

The entire class groaned in unison before starting to make their way shamblin towards the locker rooms. Once inside them the talk turned towards their new teacher, and while most of it was grumbling, some of it was speculation. 

“Hey, Rose.” Coco Adel sidled on over to their team, confidently sporting her black undergarments. As it turned out, the new class had been opened up to higher years to take optionally and team CFVY was one of those that accepted, “I hear the new profs your sister. That true?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?” Ruby asked.

“What’s the dish?” Coco draped one arm over the smaller girl.

“The… dish?” Ruby echoed in confusion.

“Oh come on! Your sister is the newest professor at Beacon and she can’t be older than thirty. She’s got all the boys, and some of the girls, drooling over her. So spill. What’s she like at home? Which way does she swing? And most importantly, where does she shop?”

“Trust Coco to think shopping habits were the most important information but before Ruby could even open her mouth to reply, Yang interjected herself, “And I’m sure if you want answers to those you can ask her yourself!”

“Aww!” Coco cooed, “ Is someone worried I might steal their big sis?” Yang’s eye twitched, “I mean, if she asked I probably would go around the block with her but I’ve got my eye on someone else.”

“From what I know, Carmine’s been relatively estranged for a while now.” Blake spoke up, saving Yang from giving whatever retort she had in mind, “I think both Ruby and Yang are just glad to have a chance to reconnect.” There was a slight edge to Blake’s voice that Coco seemed to pick up on.

“Alright, Blake, I get it. I won’t pry.” The brunette smirked, “Maybe I’ll ask her if we can go shopping together. Ciao.” The second year sauntered away.

Weiss gave Blake a strange look before pulling on the rest of her clothes. The girl had always acted aloof and more often than not had her nose buried deep in a book most of the time. The fact that she cared enough to even acknowledge Coco’s existence was odd in and of itself but the girl had sounded defensive of the bizarre new addition to their lives, not that it affected the heiress all that much. Though she would admit the notion was intriguing, she was curious what their partnership was like in the future. Ruby had her problems and Weiss knew she had her own as well. Their relationship had gotten off to a very rocky start, even that was an understatement. Just remembering her attitude towards the girl brought back an embarrassed flush to her cheeks. In a way, she was glad Professor Port had set her straight on the matter. Carmine proved that Ruby had potential as a talented huntress and Weiss had never thought that to be in dispute, just her maturity.

It was all moot because she had promised to give her leader her support and, unlike her father, her word meant something. Maybe the man would have been disappointed at a Schnee not being made leader, a Schnee did not follow after all, but if it irked him then all the more reason to keep things as they were. Maybe it was childish of her, but Weiss couldn’t bring herself to care about what her father thought anymore. She’d made her choice, and it was hers to make not his. 

Trying to tear her thoughts away from her family issues, Weiss turned to the rest of her team, “By the way, I heard that preparations for the Vytal Festival are going on in Vale right now? How would you all like to spend Friday afternoon in the city?”

The blond’s lilac eyes lit up, “A night on the town? I’m in.”

“I night out as a team! That’s a great idea Weiss!” Their tiny leader exclaimed, then all eyes turned to their quietest member who looked hesitant.

“Come on Blake. You’re not gonna sit in our room and read are you?” Yang smirked, suggestion what answering that question might entail if she refused to come. In Blake’s defence she looked ready to fight for her right for peace and quiet, though it looked like she was realizing how poorly that might go against team RWBY’s resident powerhouse. It really was unfair how strong she was and Weiss might have resented it had their class not had Pyrrha Nikos in it. It was oddly satisfying seeing the blond taken down a few pegs by team JNPR’s champion.

“I’ll go.” Blake let out a defeated sigh.

Even Weiss managed a smile at the antics of their team. It may not have been the way she had envisioned it going when she first came to Beacon but maybe that was for the best. She’d seen her father surrounded by sycophants and yes-men all her childhood, the heiress didn’t want the same. Finally done dressing and with plans made, she closed her locker.

  
  


* * *

Jaune had a headache again. They’d been coming and going often since he’d woken up in the bandit camp, covered in bandages. Considering the type of care they had given him, he was lucky he had aura to help him heal instead of relying on their lacking medical expertise. It didn’t help that Raven hounded him constantly to tell him more things, not that he could remember much to her satisfaction. He knew things, things she said he can’t have known but he still did. Even Jaune was puzzled as to how. He knew she was the Spring Maiden. How he knew, he couldn’t remember. It was the case with everything. Crocea Mors was his weapon and the other sword on his belt was the Relic of Destruction. Why he had it, no one could tell. 

They had quickly discovered the Relic was useless, though, after Raven tried activating it, much to her disappointment. Jaune had a feeling that her not having the thing was for the best, anyways. 

Once again they were having tea in her tent and she was asking him questions about and he answered to the best of his ability. She’d saved him, for a reason she refused to tell him, and extorted the information out of him as payment. 

“I don’t believe you.” Was the simple statement she made, scowling at him from across the small table they sat at. The conversation was an old one and one he’d lost patience with.

“Well you don’t have a choice because  _ I don’t remember. _ ” She’d asked him, again, how he had known what he’d known. Jaune stopped himself from rattling the table, if only to avoid spilling the tea. It really was too good to waste, some rare Mistralian kind. Undoubtedly stolen, too.

They scowled at each other in silence for a time until Raven reached into a pocket and removed a scroll, sliding it past the kettle so he could reach out and grab it.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“A scroll.” Came her reply and he looked up to catch a smirk, “It’s your scroll. I’m done with it so you can have it back.”

She wasn’t even going to pretend not to have invaded his privacy and if he could remember a lot about his past life he might have cared. Now though? He kind of expected it from her at this point even though he’d only been up for a few days now. Not that he could really say anything about her practices. Not only was she the only people around for a good few days trek but she was also obscenely strong. He was all but a prisoner of her tribe and the only reason he wasn’t trapped in a cage was because he was still the second strongest person in the camp, much to Vernal’s much bemoaning. 

That had been a surreal scene, too. Waking up and accusing someone of being dead was an odd experience, especially when it happened again after meeting Raven. Something was up, he could practically smell it. After opening the scroll up his eyebrows scrunched together. There was nothing odd about it at all. Just his own mug staring back at him, though a few years younger. The details looked right and it was issued by Shade. Jaune looked back up at Raven in confusion.

“The date.” She said rolling her eyes. Jaune inspected the issue date and sat in confused silence until Raven got impatient, “The issue date is five years from now. And your birthdate is weird too, unless you’re really seventeen.”

That really  _ was  _ weird, but Jaune couldn’t understand what it meant and told her as much.

“Because either you’re a very bad spy or something magical is afoot.” Jaune rolled his eyes. Another trait he’d quickly learned about the bandit leader was her flair for the dramatic. 

“I suppose you’re gonna get to the point eventually, right?” Her smirk turned to a scowl.

“You have information I want.” Then she interrupted him when he made to speak, “And you either can’t or won’t give it to me. But that’s fine. I know a way to get what I want regardless and you’re going to help me.”

“Okay but why should I help you? And why would you need me anyways?” 

The smile she gave him then reminded him of a predator, one who was too lazy to come over and kill you but wanted you to know it could if it wanted to, it sent shivers down his spine, “Because, Jaune, I’ll let you have one of Knowledge’s questions.”

Jaune froze, his mind supplying random facts about the Relic of Knowledge. The name Jinn came to the forefront and so did his suspicion about why she needed him. She probably didn’t know how to use the Relic, and suspected that he did. The deal, however, was a good one and he would have to think about the best way to use his question.

“I’m listening.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


The elevator dinged and out walked Taiyang into Ozpin’s office in what had to have been the first time in years. Qrow was a step ahead of him but didn’t take the spot next to Oz that he was fond of, it was taken by a different person and the only reason he was here in the first place. His heart leapt to his throat when he saw her. 

Black and red hair that hung down to her shoulder and a black eyepatch with the Rose family symbol emblazoned in silver upon her left eye. Under the red leather jacket he could spy twin holster holding something crimson and her signature red cloak seemed to have been turned into a sash tied around her waist. She looked the spitting image of Summer, so much so that his heart ached painfully in his chest. That was a wound that would never go away, merely become more bearable with time.

Qrow had briefed him on the way over from Patch but the sight of his daughter blew away every doubt he’d had. There was no doubt she was the real deal. Ozpin sat at his desk typing away at his terminal with Glynda already standing to his other side. Qrow went to stand beside his niece who was leaning against the column and they both stood watching his reaction.

“Ruby…” Taiyang was at a loss for words and could only say the girl’s name. Qrow cursed under his breath and brought some lien out of his pocket where his daughter smugly took it and placed it within her coat, “You bet on me?!”

Not a very elegant first conversation with his suddenly older daughter but his shock had overridden his speechlessness.

“I trust you recognize your daughter?” Ozpin was the one to instil order on the conversation, and it wa s good thing because Tai was already halfway towards beating Qrow to a pulp.

“Yeah. I’d know my baby girl.”

“Well those of us without father instincts have already conducted a blood analysis. She is definitely Ruby Rose.” Oz followed up, “So as a formality meet your eldest daughter, Carmine Rose.”

Taiyang shook his head at the headmaster’s dramatics but had the wind nearly knocked out of him by a blur of red rose petals, Carmine gripping him in a fierce hug, her face buried in his chest.

“Hey Dad. It’s been a while.” The girl, no, woman that was his daughter looked up at him with a pleading look.

“I need you to listen to Ozpin, Dad. You’re not gonna like it. But I need you to hear him out.” She whispered.

When Tai looked at the man with raised eyebrows and Ozpin smiled apologetically, “Family reunions aren’t the only reason I asked you here today Taiyang.” The father of two felt himself tense up, he’d gotten out of the professional scene for a reason, he wanted to focus on being there for his girls. He looked at his daughter and held his tongue, waiting for Ozpin to continue.

“I need your help Tai. You’re one of the few trusted individuals I have left. I am asking, no begging, for your help. Miss Rose has told me of what the future holds and I must say that the future looks dark. I want your help in insuring that such a future doesn’t not come to pass.”

“Oz.” Carmine sternly looked at the headmaster, “You need to tell them.”

“Yes, Miss Rose, I do.” Ozpin took a deep breath, “From what I have been told of future events some of what happened was my fault. I want you to know that I do trust you, all of you, but the secrets I have kept I have done so because it was easier for me to do so and not because of any lack of trust.” His eyes glanced over at the young woman next to him. It was the closest he’d ever seen the man to emotional and it was giving Tai a bad vibe, he wasn’t going to like what was about to be said. 

Even Qrow looked shocked at what Ozpin had to say, and the man was supposed to be Oz’s right hand. Though that could be understandable given what had come out of the man’s mouth. Not only the truth about Salem but about himself and the Relics as well. 

“You son of a bitch!” It wasn’t Taiyang who said that but rather his partner and friend, Qrow, who lunged at the headmaster, fist raised. He never made it however because Carmine was already in between them, holding onto the arm he was threatening Ozpin with, “I can’t believe you. You said you trusted us!”

Ozpin closed his eyes.

“What’s the point! This entire time, everything I’ve done for you, I thought I was making a difference.”

“Qrow!” Glynda shouted, eyes glinting, “Not another word.” The two glared at each other for a tense moment before Qrow clicked his tongue and walked to the elevator, departing the room.

The silence that followed was deafening, “I have half a mind to join him, Oz. What the hell made you think it was okay to keep something like that from your inner circle?” Taiyang found he had little sympathy for the old man, even if he looked far older than he had moments ago. 

“I have lived a very long time. A hundred lifetimes have come and gone for me.” He slowly spoke up, “I have trusted many people, and been betrayed just as much. Some things were just easier to keep to myself.”

“Right” Tai snorted, “Because trust has anything to do with it. You just didn’t want to admit you had no plan. You let all of think we could beat her but we can’t. I’m all for not letting her exterminate the human race but what are we, a delaying tactic? I don’t want to throw my life away and I’d like to believe Summer didn’t.”

Carmine winced, “That’s the thing, Dad. We might have a plan now.” That caught his interest.

“Yes. Miss Rose convinced me of the necessity of being upfront. Now more than ever I need all of your help.”

Taiyang crossed his arms, “Alright then Oz. I’m listening.”

“That’s all I ask.” The headmaster nodded gratefully, “Miss Rose has told me what she can remember of her own history and what happened and I hope to prevent that. I’ve spent the last week coming up with a plan of action that I hope works, the enemy is indeed prepared but we have the best weapon of all, foreknowledge. I would like to keep this advantage for as long as possible. Towards that end I wish to let the enemy make their moves while minimizing their impact until we can trap them and be assured of our own victory.”

“Okay but how do I come into this?” Taiyang asked.

“I want you to assist your daughter in a venture to deny the queen her pawns.” Ozpin leaned forward, “Tell me do remember the stories of the first Grimm?”

“You mean how the God of Darkness created Grimm to destroy the God of Light’s creations?”

“Precisely. I am old but this story is far older than I am. The God of Darkness first created nine beings of darkness to assist him in opposing his brother. These beings are known as the Primordial Grimm. Each was given the gift of magic by their creator and, if Miss Rose is correct, do not necessarily ally themselves with Salem.”

“You’re serious? Grimm?!” Taiyang was incredulous.

“Yes. These ten Grimm are unlike anything you’ve ever encountered. They possess intellect on par with any human as well as the gift of magic. In my original life I only ever encountered one, Nemeus. Our battle was close and I was forced to flee for my life. When miss Rose told me of her encounters late in the war with Grimm far more powerful than any other. These Grimm existed before Salem and are not beholden to her though it appears that she will eventually get their allegiance.”

“You want to kill them, Oz? If they’re as powerful as you say, we’d need one hell of a team to do it.” 

“Killing them may be required but no, that’s not my intention. I intend to gain their allegiance.”

“You what?” Had he heard that properly? Even Glynda looked at a loss for words and the only person who looked like they didn’t have their jaw on the floor was Carmine. 

“They don’t like Salem. Or most of them don’t.” Carmine elaborated, “I fought one when Vale fell. A massive serpentine Grimm named Jormungandr. I wasn’t able to kill him with my eyes but I did free him from whatever Salem had over him. Our conversation was brief but he left peacefully as thanks.”

“You spoke with him? It can talk?” Taiyang asked.

“Not in the way you’re probably thinking.” Ozpin cleared up, “I did say they were given the gift of magic. They can use to use it to communicate, if the choose to.”

“When he left,” Carmine continued, “He said he was going home to Lake Matsu. I want to go speak to him. If we can convince him that Salem is a bigger threat to him than us...”

“You think he’d join us?” Taiyang finished for her.

“Or at the very least remain neutral.” Carmine shrugged.

Taiyang looked between his daughter and the headmaster with wide eyes, “You’re both nuts. You’re talking about the Grimm here.”

“All intelligent beings have the ability to choose, Taiyang, despite their base natures.”

“I thought choice was a gift from the gods?” Tai countered.

Ozpin smiled, “Choice was also given by the god of darkness as his contribution to creating humanity. Regardless, this is why I need your help. Carmine can’t do this alone.”

Taiyang took a deep breath and let it all out in a ferocious sigh. Ozpin had him and of course that was the reason he had reached out in the first place. There was no chance in hell he was about to let his daughter walk into a situation like that and knowing Ruby he knew she’d do it with or without help. Asking for it was a courtesy. He took a moment to observe her. She was the spitting image of Summer and it made him proud to see it. He knew she would have been so proud of her daughter as well, standing shoulder to shoulder against Salem. 

It wasn’t ever a fight he had wanted them involved with but knew the possibility was there when they both had decided to become huntresses. Ruby really was too much like her mother and that scared him more than he’d like to admit, could he keep going if she didn’t come home too? And now he had an extra daughter to worry about.

“Relax, Oz. I’ll help. And I’ll try and talk to Qrow.”

Ozpin bowed his head slightly, “Thank you, Tai. The four of you will leave for Lak Matsu Friday evening, I’ll have everything sorted by then. Hopefully you will all be back before class on Monday.”

Once the elevator door closed it left father and daughter alone as the mechanism whirred to life, rapidly transporting the two down the tower. Carmine rode it downwards by leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, he could see how different she was from her younger self. Her sister, now. The influences of Yang and Qrow were definitely present in her demeanor but something else that was hidden just beneath the surface. 

Occasionally her eye would unfocus and she’d appear lost in thought, and never a good one at that. 

“You okay?” He asked.

She shook her head to dispel whatever thoughts were clouding her and gave him a smile but for the first time he realized it wasn’t  _ Ruby’s _ smile, but a different one. One worn thin by time and hardship but still honest. A smile all her own representing the person she had become.

“I’m fine, Dad. It’s good to see you again.”


	5. 5

Displaced

5

  
  


* * *

“Raaaargh!” Vernal yelled as she charged in to attack Jaune, her chakram guns raised in anger. She was frustrated at how little she could do against the man in combat, she’d been the strongest in the tribe behind Raven for years now and this random stranger showed up and took the chieftain's favor. 

The blond parried her swings and took the blast from her weapon on his shield, not even budging. The white shield shifted back into sheath form and he used the sudden imbalance it caused in her to sweep her legs, expanding his shield once again, and pinning her to the ground with it, his weight settling down atop her with his blade held to her throat. 

Another win in his favor, it was the fifteenth in the last five days and she had yet to be able to properly hit him. It was like sparring against Raven, the man pulled no punches and deconstructed her with ruthless efficiency. She couldn’t say he was powerful, at least not in the traditional sense. His strength was there, he was definitely a professional, but he fought like he knew what you were thinking. Every fight that they had had together, Vernal had gotten sucked into his flow and he controlled the fight from start to finish.

“How the hell are you so strong?!” She yelled in frustration, she wasn’t used to being bested so easily, Raven the only one who could do so. 

“If I could remember I’d tell you.” That was another thing that pissed her off. He couldn’t remember some things but his skill with a sword was definitely not one he’d forgotten. She didn’t know how amnesia worked but she hoped it went away soon, it was one ting to lose to someone strong but to someone with amnesia? She’d be a laughing stock if everyone in the tribe didn’t already know she could beat them black and blue with one hand. In the end the tribe members gave their resident amnesiac a wide berth. 

In the end she just settled for an impotent glare from her place on the ground, she’d have gotten up if she could trust her legs, not caring about the dirt on her already filthy clothes. Looking over, a pair of black boots obscured her vision but she knew who they belonged to and after following it up she met the red eyes of her chieftain smirking down at her.

“Are you comfortable down there Vernal?” The woman in question could only scowl even harder as their leader chuckled and turned to address Jaune, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

The threat was evident in her voice and had the blonde arching one eyebrow, “You realize you’re also shorter than me, right?”

“Oh don’t worry Jaune.” Raven purred as she drew her blade, squeezing an inordinate amount of time out of the act as she did so very slowly, “My blade more than makes up for the difference.”

Finding a second wind Vernal quickly scrambled out of the makeshift sparring ring drawn in the dirt, the edges marked with stones. Seeing her blade drawn brought out murmuring among the tribe and quickly they started attracting a larger audience. It wasn’t every day that Raven dueled somebody, after all.

“Do we have to do this?” Jaune had the gall to whine.

“Are you kidding me?!” Vernal raged, “Raven is choosing to duel you and you  _ refuse?  _ Are you a coward?!”

Both ignored her.

“I’ve been waiting for you to fully recover, you know. I didn’t save you out of the kindness of my heart.”

Jaune sighed, “And here I was going to thank you, too.”

The bandit gave him a catty look, “Oh you can still thank me. Be sure to give me a good fight. Watching you knock Vernal around has me excited.”

“Kinky.” Jaune shot back with a smirk of his own, “Don’t expect me to make it easy for you.”

Jaune readied his shield and sword, placing the shield out in front of him with the blade perpendicular and pointed at his opponent, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Raven’s sword drifted through the air lazily until she mirrored his blade, both hands on the hilt and pointed straight towards him. Without warning it was the bandit leader who made the first move, shooting forward like a bullet and appearing in front of him with speed that made Vernal envious. Jaune, however, seemed to have anticipated this and instead of blocking the lunging thrust he stepped into it, letting the blade slide across his shoulder. His shield arm clamped down on her overextended arms while his other brought the raised sword down on her head, pommel first, and delivered a devastating blow to her temple. 

Raven wasn’t about to let him have another hit and planted her booted foot into his stomach and pushed him away while tugging at her weapon. Succeeding in drawing it out of his grasp she made sure to cut along his body, taking as much aura with it as she could. Looking up, she brought her blood red blade up to deflect the flying object hurtling towards her face, the shield bouncing off with a clang as Jaune jumped into the air to catch it and bring his sword down like a meteorite. 

Reacting quickly, Raven dodged to the side as Crocea Mors carved a deep furrow into the dirt. Not giving him a chance to draw out his weapon she rushed in to skewer him. Jaune let go of his weapon and transformed his shield into a sheath, using it to deflect her blade and taking the opportunity to draw his blade back out, slashing at her face. Blade met blade mere inches from her face as Crocea Mors sparked off of Raven’s sword. Neither gave ground as they kept slashing and parrying each other in rapid succession.

Jaune finally saw his chance, ducking under a horizontal sweep he spun while sheathing Crocea Mors and swing the blade within the sheath. Ah the same time he twisted the handle, triggering the mechanism within to begin the transformation of his weapon. The mechashift took the bandit leader by surprise and she failed to step back far enough, the tip of the now much larger sword catching her in the ribs, chunking out a portion of her aura.

Jumping back to create distance between them, she rubbed her side where she was struck but still smiled at him. It was a fierce predatory smile, one that spoke of satisfaction and of finally finding a worthy opponent. Jaune was strong, that much was clear, and it was only just dawning on the rest of the tribe just how strong. Those who could claim to be able to trade with Raven were few and far between. 

This time they both dived towards each other at the same time, Jaune’s face drawn into tight lipped frown of concentration. He had been forcing Raven on the defensive the whole time, drawing her into his pace and letting him dictate the flow. She’d created distance to try and gain control of it once again. The blond most likely knew that letting her be aggressive was a bad idea for him. 

Crocea Mors was raised into an overhead strike but at the last moment he stopped short and dropped into a spin that brought the blade into a vicious circle the would have cut Raven down at the knees if she hadn’t anticipated it. Just as he dropped down the bandit leaped into the air and planted one booted foot on his face, stabbing down at him at the same time. The was a grunt of pain as the tip of her blade found his neck, leaving an angry red mark where she had struck.His now free had grasped for her ankle but she kicked off of him with the other foot before his fingers could close around it. 

Despite his weapon now being more unwieldy, he swung it with a deftness that belied it’s size. As soon as her feet touched dirt he was on her again however she was ready and waiting, letting his blade slide off of hers as she deflected his thrust. Their breathing became ragged as they traded blow after blow with each other, only scoring a glancing hit every once in a while. 

Vernal watched on in silence and just barely noted that the rest of the tribe was dead silent watching as well. The only person they had ever seen go this much against her was her brother, Qrow Branwen. Jaune’s strike came in sweeping, spinning arcs that flowed one move to another in one fluid motion, his body constantly in motion. Every attack turned into another, barely giving Raven time to strike back but strike back she did. Her long blade lanced out at every opportunity and traced lines across his face, hands, feet, anything she could reach, slowly whittling away at his auta while every blow he got on her looked to have taken large chunks of hers.

At once they both disengaged, their auras shimmering as they failed, Jaune’s white fading just a few seconds after Raven’s red. Both stood taking ragged breaths, eyes focused solely on one another. It was a tense moment and Vernal wasn’t sure they would stop, she’d seen that look on Raven’s face before. The fierce smile that wanted nothing more than to test herself against someone as strong as she was and now that she’d found someone that maybe she would take it too far.

As the seconds stretched on with only the sounds of them gasping for air, laughter bubbled up to the surface coming from the red and black clad leader. She threw her head back and started laughing in earnest. 

“A tie!” Raven laughed, “I can’t believe it. You  _ are _ strong. And here I was worried you wouldn’t be able to perform.”

Jaune shook his head, returning his blade to his hip, “Well it’s a good thing I wasn’t found wanting.”

“Now that you’ve healed we can finally move on to what’s next. We’ll discuss the plan in my tent.” With a flourish she sheathed her weapon and spun around, expecting him to follow. Vernal frowned at that, unsure what to make of it. 

One thing she did know as she looked back at the ring, furrows carved into the ground where the blades had torn through rock and dirt, was that if he joined the tribe they might just be untouchable.

  
  
  


* * *

“Do you want to know  _ why _ I don’t particularly trust the faunus?” Weiss glared at Blake. They’d returned to their dorm after the two had spent way too long arguing in the middle of the street in Vale, they’d even drawn a crowd. Yang looked worriedly between the two, hoping the two wouldn’t escalate. She couldn’t say she approved of the way Weiss was acting but if felt like Blake was by far too sensitive to the issue. Her sister looked like she wanted to hide and Yang had the thought that maybe she should have called up Carmine to intervene. If there was anyone who could convince the black and white pair it would be their future leader, right?

Instead she shook her head, this was a team issue and as much as Carmine was a part of their team, technically, they needed to be able to solve things by themselves. 

“Do you want to know why I despise the White Fang?!” Yang turned her attention back to the pair in front of her, “It’s because their a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!”

Blake opened her mouth to yell something back but something stopped her, she stood there speechless for a moment before looking down at her hands, a hint of apprehension on her face. When she did finally speak, it was in a low whisper.

“I have something I need to tell you all.” Slowly and shakily her hands moved up to the top of her head and drew apart the bow. As it dropped done it revealed a pair of black, velvety feline ears. Everyone’s eyes went wide and they heard Weiss audibly gasp, “I’m a faunus. I’m sorry I’ve been lying to you this whole time but I promise I have my reasons.”

Weiss was catatonic and unresponsive so Yang took it upon herself to ask the question, “And what reasons are those?”

With her bow in hand she wrung her hands nervously, “I haven’t had the best experiences among humanity. Vale is pretty good about racism but the prejudice still exists.”

“So you chose to hide the fact you were a faunus.” Yang finished for her and she nodded, “Well that’s fine. It’s not like you were a part of the White Fang.” Yang noticed her silence, “You aren’t White Fang, right?” 

“Not… anymore.” Blake answered with a wince and glance at Weiss, “Weiss I promise I left the White Fang. I don’t condone their actions at all.” She reached out to touch the heiress’ shoulders.

“Don’t touch me!” Weiss shouted as she flinched away from Blake, “Don’t you dare touch me!”

The look on Blake’s face was heartbreaking as she slowly withdrew her hand and glanced at the door. Yang almost made it in the way before the black blur ran past her and out into the hallway with two of her teammates shouting after her. Weiss stood in the middle of the dorm with her arms held to herself, visibly shaking.

“Weiss?” Ruby tentatively asked.

“She could have killed me in my sleep!” It looked like the reveal really rattled her, “I can’t believe it. A White Fang, so close.” She closed her eyes at the thought. 

“Weiss, you heard Blake. She said she wasn’t one of them anymore.” Yang said.

“Do you really think we can trust  _ anything _ she says?!”

Yang felt her eyes shifting red as a blur moved between them, “Stop! No fighting! Not anymore. Weiss,” Ruby addressed her partner, “I think we should find Blake and find out the whole story.”

“But-”

“No buts, Weiss! Blake is our teammate and I will hear her out.” Ruby stuck her finger out at the heiress.

Weiss glared at the finger until the team leader lowered it, “You can listen to her, Ruby. But I have nothing to say to someone like her.”

“Just give her a chance to explain Weiss. Please?” Ruby brought out the big guns, the pouting puppy dog eyes.

“One chance.” Weiss finally relented after a minute of contemplation, “But if I don’t like what she says, I’m going to the headmaster.”

With not much else to say Ruby led the still upset Weiss out the door to go look for Blake, using the power of pure optimism to try and hope that their team was going to be okay.

Yang wasn’t so sure. She wanted her partner back, that much was true, but would Weiss and Blake even be able to reconcile? She pulled her scroll out and looked at the screen for a moment. Carmine probably knew the answer, she probably had been through the same unless Blake had managed to hide her faunus heritage for a decade, but she doubted it. 

Typing out a quick message she sent it with a tap of her finger and was puzzled when she got a message back instantly. It was an automated reply, a scroll function someone could set up if they were going to be out of tower range.

_ I’m out on a mission right now and will be back by the start of class on Monday, if you have questions regarding the class please speak with Professor Goodwitch. _

_ -Prof. C. Rose _

What? A mission? Then she remembered what the professor had said a few days ago during their last lesson with the woman. Well there went that idea. With a sigh she put the scroll back into her pocket and followed after her sister. At the very least she could give Blake the benefit of the doubt and make sure Weiss did too. 

  
  


* * *

The bullhead shuddered as it landed on the island that resided on the western side of Lake Matsu. Uncle Qrow had been grumpy the entire flight, for the first four hours at least until he drank himself to sleep. At least Carmine’s dad had been able to convince him to come, though it looked like he had decided to complain the whole way. Taiyang looked ready to knock him unconscious if he started again but thankfully had remained silent since he’d woken back up as the bullhead made it’s approach. 

The island they were on was name, uniquely, Matsu Island and was a fairly large body of land inside the massive body of water. Roughly ten miles in diameter and covered in thick woods. It was an unpopulated expanse due to the floating islands around the surface of the lake housing quite a few nasty aerial Grimm. The bullhead pulled away to return to the coastal village nearby, it wouldn’t do to have their ride in danger with what they planned to do next.

The mere thought of seeing Jormungandr again had Carmine’s knees feel weak. Idly, in the back of her mind, she wondered how her dad and uncle were going to react. She remembered the pure terror she’d felt when she saw it, him. 

The late was placid and the air was still, the floating islands creating a complex natural barrier against wind. Off on the horizon she could see the shoreline of the lake peninsula that extended out into Lake Matsu. 

“You sure about this?” Qrow spoke up beside her on the shoreline. He still looked angry but thankfully not at her. 

“We have to do this Uncle. The Primordials are too big to leave alone, if Salem gets them on her side, it wont matter anymore.”

Qrow grunted, “Think it’ll work?”

“Honestly? I have no clue.” 

They both sank into silence and it wasn’t long before Taiyang returned, “No Grimm in the area. So how are we gonna do this? Got some kind of alarm clock or something?”

“Or something.” Carmine smirked and closed her eye, hoping that it worked. The familiar feeling was there. Over the years the power of the silver eyes had become easier to use until she could unleash it at a moment’s notice. The power thundered behind her eye, pounding in her skull. It felt like a pressure waiting to pour past the damn. 

So she let it.

White light exploded out of her like a bomb going off but strangely it was gentle as well, like a cleansing wind blinding the two huntsmen with her. As the light faded they stood stock still, waiting for something to happen. After a minute nothing happened and Carmine felt some disappointment and relief. 

“So, that’s what the silver eyes are like.” Taiyang commented. 

“Mom never used hers?” Carmine asked, intrigued. This wasn’t something her dad had ever talked about before.

“No she-” There was a rumbling that interrupted him, the ground beneath their feet shuddering as the lake started churning.

Jormungandr was awake. 

A small amount of fear clenched her stomach as she watched the water churn even more violently, something beneath the water. The surface ballooned upward and a titanic shape emerged from the water. Her memory certainly didn’t do the serpent justice. It’s angular head blotted out the sun, casting them in shadow, as it’s glaring red eyes bore down on the trio. Jormungandr’s head was easily bigger than an Atlesian battleship, it’s gaping mouth lined with countless, needle-like teeth. It’s scales were jet black with the stark white bone plating running from his forehead down his back into the water. 

“By the Gods.” Taiyang mumbled, his eyes wide. Qrow stood on her other side, unable to speak. Jormungandr was breathtaking to behold and certainly bigger than any Grimm in history, remembered history at least. A sibilant rumbled from his throat, vibrating in their chests with the sheer magnitude. The words shook her mind, echoing in the back of her head the ‘voice’ having a deep, guttural sound to it.

**_Child of Light, know that you have awoken Jormungandr of the firstborn. It was brave of you to call me out. Or perhaps a mistake. No matter. You will die all the same._ **

  
  
  



	6. 6

Displaced

6

* * *

  
  


“Look out!” Taiyang yelled, throwing himself in a direction. Just rolling would not have worked as the tail that slammed down where he and Qrow were standing mere moments ago flattened a dozen trees near the shoreline of the island. With a tremendous crash the tail swept in his direction forcing the father of two, well three now, to jump and leap up the tail’s side, just barely clearing it. 

None of the three hunters had drawn their weapons, what weapon could harm a Grimm of this size? Also something about peace, but that was Carmine’s problem, he had his hands full just surviving. 

“Please stop this. Jormungandr! I need to speak with you!” A red blur sped past Taiyang’s head, coalescing into his newest daughter who was also the eldest. 

**I have no need of the words of insects, child of light.** The voice rumbled in their heads and Carmine sped down and onto the tail next to her father. A bird flapped and suddenly transformed into his partner, Qrow. 

Seriously, life was unfair, he actually had to dodge the giant Grimm!

“What’s the plan?” Qrow asked.

Carmine paused for a second, “Survive.” Qrow palmed his face, “I need enough time to stun him. I think I can get him to listen. Can you guys distract him?”

“Can? Maybe. Survive?... Also maybe” Taiyang rolled his eyes at the other man. If someone told him he’d be fighting against a giant Grimm that was older than known history he’d have laughed in their face. Now he was just wishing he could hold his daughters.

The tail rumbled after stopping it’s sweep and started being pulled into the water. Carmine disappeared into the treeline. Taiyang hopped off as Qrow flipped onto the ground next to him, they nodded to each other. Jormungandr loomed in front of them, the two once again taking stock of the massive Grimm. 

**You stand before Jormungandr, I commend you for not running and hiding like the child. To simply kill you would be a shame. How about a game? How long can you last before you fall?**

Globs of dark mass coalesced underneath it’s chin, dropping down like saliva. It was no saliva, however, as the black liquid splashed onto the beach. It bubble and hissed before coagulating into an undulating mass, snakelike heads emerging from the goo. A dozen King Taijitu stared down the huntsman pair.

“Seriously? Talk about playing with your food.”

“Shut up Qrow.” Taiyang smashed his fists into each other, his aura sparking as it took on a bright orange glow around his arms.

The Grimm surged forwards towards the two and were met with a volley of buckshot from Qrow’s weapon as Taiyang closed the distance. An orange first smashed upwards into the jaw of the lead Taijitu, crushing bone and flesh. With a kick he sent the shattered head away from him and into a nearby Grimm as he turned to deal with the other head. With a lightning quick strike the white head flashed forward but was deftly dodged by the huntsman who grabbed it’s mouth, pulling the jaws apart with a snap. Letting the Grimm fall to the ground he delivered the final blow with his fist, flattening it against the ground and causing cracks to spiderweb out from the point of impact. A scythe flashed passed his head and bisected one that had lunged for Taiyang, causing it to burst into black smoke. 

In an instant he was chambering his fist to take on the next Grimm while keeping an eye on the titanic Grimm who seemed content watching. Qrow was making short work of the King Taijitu, his scythe a blur as he danced in between them. Taiyang relied on a more forceful method, shattering bones with each blow and even breaking fangs and using them as impromptu weapons. Together the two made short work of the dozen Grimm Jormungandr had spawned and a low, rumbling laugh reverberated inside of their heads. 

**Strong, for humans. Much stronger than the last time I was awake. How entertaining. Show me more. Perhaps if the child were to be smoke out of her hiding hole?**

Taiyang didn’t like the sound of that and suddenly felt his hair stand on end and spared a worried glance at Jormungandr. What he saw made his eyes widen as he grabbed Qrow’s shoulder.

“Run!” He shouted.

The great serpent’s maw hung wide open, it’s hundreds of razor sharp teeth on full display. What looked like electricity arced from tooth to tooth, occasionally lancing to the growing orb of energy centered in it’s mouth. The ball of pure energy glowed brightly, making the huntsman squick to see it. 

The pair ran for their lives, Qrow turning into a bird and taking the lead. Behind him, Taiyang could hear the crackling of the energy building up into a crescendo before it was suddenly released and it felt like the world was ending. 

The air tore in twain, deafening him as a massive wave of roiling heat washed over him, throwing him to the ground. Gritting through the pain, even though his aura protected him from the worst, he turned his head to see the devastation wrought by the Grimm. 

The soil of the beach was vitrified and a massive swath cut through the island’s trees. There was nothing left standing for a hundred feet with trees ablaze on the edges. Smoke and steam billowed into the air as an ominous rumbling sounded in the distance, a floating island falling out of the sky in pieces.

“Carmine!” He shouted into the small receiver attached to his neck.

A scratchy reply sounded in return, “ _.....fine, Dad. It…..me…… ready. I need...springboard….. ………...his face.” _

Crushing relief turned into action and he spotted Qrow nodding to him as he changed stances to get ready, scythe behind him and knees bent. 

“We’re ready for you, kiddo.” Qrow replied. 

  
  
  


* * *

Carmine took in a deep breath and let it out. The blazing trees burned at a distance that was far too close to comfort. The attack Jormungandr had used had been powerful, powerful enough to tear through Vale’s wall like it was made of cardboard. The sight of the walls bursting and exploding from being superheated floated up to the fore of her mind and she pushed it back down. 

The thunderous wave of energy crashed against the back of her forehead, straining against her eyes to be let out. In the shade of the trees her silver eye shone like a lone mirror as the power of creation surged within it. Carmine held it in check, ready to be released at a moment’s notice. 

“ _ We’re ready…...…., kiddo.”  _ Qrow’s voice was distorted and distant over the static caused by the beam attack. 

Instantly Carmine leapt into action, her semblance activating as she burst into rose petals, blurring through and around the trees. In a few seconds the treeline was left behind and Jormungandr loomed ahead. Her father waited behind Qrow with an outstretched hand and in a moment she knew what they wanted. Her hand slapped into his palm and they closed around each other, Carmine pulling Taiyang into her semblance, red twirling with yellow as they hopped onto the edge of Qrow’s scythe.

The second their feet hit the metal, Harbinger barked, Qrow using the momentum of the shotgun blast to initiate his swing, grunting with the effort. With her semblance assisting the throw, the father-daughter duo hurtled towards Jormungandr. Midways through their flight, their momentum lagged and Carmine released her semblance for a moment. 

Taiyang brought his feet up and she brought the bottoms of hers to the bottoms of his. They pushed off of each other and Carmine activated her semblance once again, gaining a burst of speed to complete her journey.

**So you’ve finally shown yourself, child of light!** Jormungandr crowed in triumph.

Instead of answering, Carmine released her semblance, spread eagle and face to face with the primordial. Finally she released her power and a wave of bright, white light that flooded the area like a second sun.

**Argh! Accursed eyes!** The serpent flinched back and Carmine took her chance to burst into petals again, landing heavily on his head, her boots skidding against his bone plating.

“Will you shut the hell up and listen to me?!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. For whatever reason the Grimm stilled, whether out of shock that a powerless insect would yell at him in such a way, or if he was, in fact, listening to her. She didn’t wait to find out and just continued before she lost her chance, “I came her to warn you! Salem’s gonna come and mind control you!”

She finished, chest heaving, and her voice echoing across the lake. Jormungandr was still and the silence stretched on until he finally replied.

**You woke me for such a ridiculous reason, child? I am Jormungandr of the Firstborn. There is not a mortal on this planet that could control me!**

Carmine winced at the volume of his mental shout, “She’s not mortal. The God of Light made her immortal a long time ago.” She didn’t feel the need to shout anymore, having gotten his attention for the moment. 

**You speak of the pretender?**

“You know of Salem?” Carmine asked, surprised.

**Of course I do, child.** He scoffed,  **The self stylized ruler of the Grimm, a pretender to the throne. Deceiver. Usurper.**

“Exactly!” Carmine felt a small amount of hope blossom, “She’s going to cast a spell to control you. It’s why I came to warn you!”

**Her magic cannot affect me so, I am firstborn and my magic runs deep.**

  
  


She needed to convince him, fast, “Look you may think that. And maybe that was true until now. But she’s found a way to control the Firstborn. I’ve seen it.”

A torrential gout of hot air rushed out of the serpent’s nostrils,  **You’ve seen this magic? On which of my siblings?**

He sounded skeptical but he was listening, that was good, “It was actually on you. I…” It was time for the biggest gamble, he would either accept it or dismiss it, “I came from the future. My silver eyes freed you from her spell.”

**What you say is impossible, whelp. Only the Makers had such power.** In the distance Carmine heard a crashing sound as Jormungandr flicked his tail in the water.

“It was their power I used. The God of Light left behind relics with his power in it. It was those that sent me back.”

**I cannot trust you, human.**

Despite the negative answer, it still inspired hope in Carmine due to one, small, slip that Jorm had made. He had called her human. It may have not been a large change from child but it was an important distinction. It meant he was considering her, actually thinking about what she said. The matter, as he said, was about trust. 

“There must be some way to make you believe me. What reason could I have for risking my life and the lives of others to deceive you.”

Though Jormungandr was Grimm, the silence that befell seemed thoughtful,  **There is one way.**

“I’ll do anything!” She was feeling desperate, a possible way appeared before her and she leapt at it.

**Open your mind to me, Child of Light.**

Open…. Her mind? Carmine was confused, some kind of mind reading?

**Did you think that communicating in this manner was all that I could do? My power is great, little one. I speak to you through my mind like the sun touches grass, though it is possible for a… deeper connection if you open your mind to me.**

“I…” Despite the pressure, she hesitated. Carmine was willing to do anything to prevent the future that she had experienced but this was something entirely different. This was letting a  _ Grimm  _ touch me mind. The very thing that made her who she was. Her memories and her thoughts. She would be presenting her entire being to Jormungandr, who knew what he could do to her. 

The memories she tried so hard to keep at bay came flooding in. The news of Weiss death and coming the wreckage of her room for evidence. Anything to find the culprit and her breaking down in the bombed out, blackened place. 

Her scroll which contained the last video message Yang had sent her, right before she and Blake had been overrun on Vale’s walls. She’d recorded the call, the recording didn’t pick up until she had realized that she was seeing her sister’s last moments. She’d watched it so many times she could recite it from memory. 

The faces of her team, of the people she’d loved and lost, appeared before her, younger and so full of vitality. Carmine couldn’t take the losses anymore. She would  _ not  _ lose anyone anymore. She would protect them all until her body was battered and broken and even then she would not give up.

“I’ll do it.”

**Open you mind to me, warrior of light.**

It was a strange sensation, she thought as she closed her eyes, and one that was almost indescribable. If she had to say, it was like an inky black, cold, tentacle brushing up against her mind. She instinctively wanted to recoil away from it but instead forced her body to relax and let the tendril of consciousness proceed further inside of her, diving deeper than just her surface thoughts. It rummaged through her mind, pulling up memory after memory as it searched for the right one. Carmine recalled when they had first met, the memory coming easily. The tendril seized it in an iron grip.

_ The wall was lost to the Grimm. A titanic serpent had risen over the forest and let for a challenging, bestial roar that shook the foundations of Vale. Sparks danced across it’s black skin as it’s mouth opened and cries from all over the wall could be heard. The fear was palpable.  _

_ The discharge was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. The bright light was blinding as it lanced out from the beast and struck the wall. In a valiant effort the wall of Vale held for a few moments before it bulged out and exploded into hundreds of thousands of white hot shards of molten rock and metal.  _

_ Ruby watched in horror as Grimm surged through the gap created by the blast, Hunters rushing to fill the gap but being swallowed one by one by the wave of black and white, flesh and bone. She sped to the gap, Crescent Rose flashing in the pale moonlight as fast as she could, a red and silver blur of death carving a path through the Grimm. She danced between the creatures with her scythe as her partner, beautiful and deadly arcs of crimson tore through the Grimm tide. A burst of light emanated from her, annihilating all the Grimm in the gap, revealing some hunters who had yet to fall to the tide. The serpent that had destroyed the wall loomed before her, even larger than before as she craned her head to glare at the mindless red eyes staring down at her.  _

_ The huntress closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before opening them once more. _

_ The world went white. _

Carmine tore herself from reliving the memory and felt Jormungandr sifting through it. She knew what he would find. The final light she’d let loose had freed him from Salem’s control and he’d taken his leave.She’d watched him slither off through the forest and began thinking that it was going to be okay, that they’d win.

That thought lasted until she got a call from Yang. 

**You speak the truth.** Jorm’s voice sounded impressed as he continued through more of her memories, Carmine now starting to adjust to the feeling. She’d even started sending her own thoughts the other direction and could sense his unfathomable mind just at the edge of her consciousness. Like a deep pit at the bottom of the ocean it extended ahead of her and it felt like she was slipping down into it. Before she could explore any further, the contact receded, leaving her with the odd feeling that her mind had been tossed upside down.

A low rumble caused her to open her eyes and realize that the vibration came from the Grimm himself. A sibilant growl thundered across the waters as his body writhed in agitation making Carmine drop to one knee, Bloom and Scatter digging into the bone plate she was standing on, not that Jorm felt it, in an effort to not fall off of his head.

**Unacceptable. A mere usurper? Manipulating me? It shall not stand. I with vaporize her! Not even ash shall remain!** The volume of the thoughts caused her to wince as it bounced inside her mind. The mental voice was numbing and she struggled to grip her weapons.

“We have a plan to defeat her but if she gets any of the other primordials on her side we won’t stand a chance.” Carmine gasped out as he finally came to a stop.

**Then we will destroy her together.**

The huntress almost could believe it and she felt her mouth hang open, “Really?” She asked.

**I refuse to bend to the machinations of the usurper. The only being who can control me is my maker. This sin must be punished.**

Her stomach flipped as Jormugandr began to lower his head until his chin touched the vitrified soil of the island. Even with it resting on the ground Carmine still needed to hop down a few storey’s worth of distance before her boots crunched on the glassed surface. She could still feel the warmth from the extreme heat in her soles. 

**You say that she has been granted immortality, do you not? She is beyond you capabilities to slay.**

“Salem tainted herself in the pools of Grimm. Our plan was to take advantage of that to petrify her using my eyes and then use the relics to imprison her in a pocket dimension.” Carmine explained, craning her head to look up into Jormungandr’s eyes as she did so, “In the time I came from we desperately tried to do it but..”

**You were sent here instead.** Jorm fell silent for a moment, no doubt mulling over the memories he had obtained from her,  **It has merit. You are not yet ready to to enact it?**

“We aren’t ready yet.”

**Then until you are ready I must warn my brother Tarasque. He and I were among the first to enter hibernation. I only know the location of two other siblings, Cusith and Bast. I will give you their location but be warned. Though Bast is more friendly than I towards you humans, Cusith does not share the same outlook. If he sees you he will kill you. Bast will be able to tell you of more of our siblings, should you be able to convince her.** The last part was said with a hint of mirth. Jormungandr’s eyes glowed and even brighter red and Carmine felt that now familiar mental touch.

**I shall grant you this boon in return for the warning,** he whispered into her mind. She doubted the others could hear him,  **This shall link us across any distance. Should you need me then concentrate on the symbol and I will hear you.**

A searing feeling on the back of her hand had her wincing and looking at the appendage. A bright red light was etching itself upon her skin like a brand and when it was done a dark shape remained in the shape of a dragon’s head with curling horns. Something else exploded into her mind, information being shoved into her memories none too gently. It gave her an instant migraine as an instinctive idea of the two other Grimm’s locations popped into her head. 

**Warn my sister of this danger and she will most likely assist you. I must take my leave and warn my brother.**

Without any other preamble the enormous serpent turned and headed through the water towards the northwest. With his long body it took him minutes to disappear, his tail sliding into the water as a faint humming sound reached their ears. Their bullhead sailed into view and kicked up dust as it landed near them. 

“Holy shit, you guys are actually alive!” The pilot exclaimed as they walked up the boarding ramp. The woman was shouting out of the small cockpit attached to the fuselage, “That was the biggest Grimm I ever saw. I was fixin’ to come pull your asses outta the fire and then it just leaves! The hell’d you do?”

“Convinced it to leave.” Carmine answered simply.

“Hmph alright, keep your secrets. Y’all are crazy. No wonder ol’ Oz wanted me to taxi you guys.” The pilot harrumphed and started flicking switches as the boarding ramp closed.

“We’re crazy? You’re the one who wanted to do a combat retrieval with  _ that  _ thing.” Qrow accused the pilot.

“Ha! Any pilot that flies for huntsmen have to be a little crazy and you’re looking at the craziest. You can call me Foehammer.” She said as the aircraft lifted off, We’ll probably be seeing a lot more of each other.”

“Heh, pleasure. I’m Qrow, that’s Carmine, and this is Taiyang.” The huntsman slumped into a flight harness across from his partner. Carmine could feel the sway in the aircraft as it took off and speed to the horizon but the acceleration was gentle and practised. 

“Oz told me. But it’s nice to formally meet you. Here’s to hoping there’s be plenty more flights to go!” Foehammer cheered.

“You gonna sit down Carmine?” Her father asked from right next to her. She wasn’t paying attention to him but rather was looking outside as their bullhead gained altitude. There was a smoking scar on the island they left behind, some floating rubble from what was formerly an island was still sailing gently through the air. But what had her eye wasn’t the devastation caused by Jormungandr’s attack but rather the trail he had left. To the northwest was a massive, twisting trail of crushed trees that he left behind as he relocated and at the head of it his long body could be seen moving from side to side, it had to be at least two miles long. Taiyang let out a low whistle as he found what she was looking at. 

“Really puts it into perspective how big he is. Think the other’s’ll be a similar size?”

Carmine shook her head, “Oz said the one he fought a few thousand years ago wasn’t all that big, just tough as hell.”

“Guess we’re gonna find out, huh?” Qrow asked.

“Y-” She was interrupted as something gave way from inside her jacket and clunked to the deck in a heap. When all three eyes looked down they saw it was her concealed holsters that had fallen. On closer inspection it looked like a buckle had given way. 

“Sorry.” Qrow said sheepishly.

“It’s fine.” She said putting the weapons and their holsters and the seat next to her as she sat down next to her father, “I made these things in a rush. I should probably get some professional ones made.”

Now the adrenaline was fading and leaving her tired, her muscles quivering from the exertion and the tension. The pounding in her head returned full force and made her close her eyes, the back of her head resting on the cushion. The relief she felt and the years of going from battle to battle had her falling asleep within moments of her head hitting the headrest, neck letting her head loll to the side to rest on her father’s shoulder. As the unconsciousness took her she barely felt her father reach over to ruffle her hair.


	7. 7

Displaced

7

* * *

  
  


“Blaaaaake!” Yang called out walking down the street. It was starting to get late in the evening, the sun hanging low and starting to disappear behind the skyline of Vale.

“Blake!” Weiss called out with far less enthusiasm. For the last few days the girl had hardly been helping and Yang had had enough.

“What’s your problem!” The angry girl whirled around and addressed the heiress, “For the last few days you’ve been anything but helpful!”

“Well excuse me for not wanting to help a criminal!” She answered, and it was the wrong one as Yang grasped her forearm and dragged her into a nearby alleyway, nearly throwing her against the wall of a building as she confronted her.

“Blake isn’t just some criminal, she’s a part of this team! My partner!” The blonde’s eyes were crimson and she blocked her teammate’s attempts to push past her.

“Your partner,” Weiss hissed, “is a terrorist. A terrorist organization that has dedicated themselves to murdering me and my family!”

“Was.” Yang countered moving in closer and forcing Weiss to back up until her back hit the wall, “ _ Was  _ a terrorist.”

“You don’t know that for sure.” Weiss was many things but meek was not one of them. Squaring she shoulders she stood up to Yang, eyes blazing and meeting the angry gaze with just as much fire, “She could  _ still  _ be a part of them.”

The blonde scoffed, “If she was a spy for the White Fang she did a poor job of it, outing herself and all.”

“Who knows what a psychopathic terrorist thinks, the problem is she once wanted me dead and probably still does.”

She didn’t flinch as a fist passed by her head and impacted the wall, spider webbing cracks out from the point of contact. Yang leaned in close and growled in a low voice, “Don’t go painting her with that brush without at least giving her a chance.”

“I refuse to let my guard down around her.” Weiss stuck her chin out defiantly, their faces only inches apart now.

_ Click. _

Both girls froze at the sound of a shutter and looked to the entrance of the alleyway where the sound had come from. Standing there, smirking, was Coco Adel and behind her with her brown rabbit ears standing up and head tilted to the side was Velvet Scarlatina. 

“Nice to see the freshmen getting along so well, though I’d advise getting a room before this goes further.” Coco tilted her head and glasses down and looked out at them with a salacious smile from behind the shades. 

The two girls looked back at each other and their noses almost touched right before Weiss’ palmed impacted and pushed Yang’s face away from her, “We were doing nothing of the sort! I wouldn’t be caught dead with this… this brute!”

Grabbing the girl’s wrist and extricating her face from her palm, Yang rolled her eyes, “Oh you wound me Weiss-cream.” 

“And you!” The girl in question howled, “Stop it with that insipid nickname!”

“Sure thing Weiss-cream.” She promptly ignored the heiress to turn to their seniors, “Hey guys, what brings you here?”

“Shopping.” Coco said as if it explained everything, though it kind of did. 

“Shopping date? Sounds nice.” Yang smiled back viciously, trying to get her own back at the girl.

“Heh, Vel and I aren’t like that.” Her smile grew, “Yet.”

Velvet’s face turned crimson and by Coco’s laugh that was the intent. 

“Oh yeah.” Yang pointed a finger up like she only just remembered, “We’re looking for my partner. You seen her out somewhere in Vale?”

Her finger tapped her chin in thought, “Can’t say I’ve seen her. Vel?”

The rabbit faunus nodded, “She was in a cafe near the docks.”

“Wait, really?!” Yang exclaimed.

“Yeah. It looked like she was on a date with some monkey faunus boy.” 

“And you didn’t tell me about this juicy tidbit?” Coco frowned at her teammate to which she got a roll of the eyes.

“If I told you, you would have probably interrupted them like you did Yang and Weiss.” Coco’s mouth opened to argue before she thought about it for a moment then close her mouth and shrugged, “Anyways I thought it was weird that she'd be on a date with the boy because I assumed was interest in someone else.”

“Well if I get a chance it’s one of the many things I’ll ask her. C’mon Weiss.” Yang pushed past eh two CFVY members a pulled her teammate along, ignoring her protestations. 

“Unhand me, Yang!” Weiss pulled her hand away and massaged the wrist with her other, “Do you really think she’s still there?”

“It’s the best lead we’ve got. You promised to hear her out.” Yang turned to her.

“And I will, though I’m not sure what she can say to make up for what she was a part of.”

“Tsk.” Yang looked to the side for a moment before looking back, “If she really couldn’t be trusted do you think Carmine would have stayed quiet?”

“What?”

“Carmine.” Yang looked around to make sure nobody was around. The streets of Vale tended to bustle even well into the night but none of the many walking the sidewalks were paying attention to them but nevertheless she leaned in and lowered her voice, “Carmine is from over ten years into the future, yet she never once batted an eye at Blake. If my partner was going to harm us or was anything but sincere, don’t you think she would have done something about it? She said she came back to change things.”

“I see. I guess you do have a point.” Weiss looked Yang in the eyes, “When the Professor returns I shall have a talk with her.  _ After  _ we find Blake.”

The smile that dawned on Yang’s face was nothing short of radiant but was wiped a moment later as a rumbling sound echoed off the buildings. It was a sound neither of them could mistake. An explosion. A dark plume rose high into the sky and a feeling of dread settled in the pits of their stomachs.

“Isn’t that..?” Weiss began.

Yang nodded, “That’s towards the docks.”

* * *

Carmine’s eye opened and blinked the blurriness from her vision. With a yawn she stretched her hands above her head, feeling the satisfying tautness of her muscles as they strained. Qrow was standing in the cockpit over Foehammer’s shoulder, staring out at something in the distance as he conversed with the pilot. Instantly she knew something was wrong from his expression and she shot her father, who had shaken her awake, a questioning look.

“Something’s up in Vale. We were just about to start our approach for Beacon but…”

Carmine got up and stood next to her uncle, looking out over Vale from high up she could see a dark plume of smoke. It was on the complete opposite side of Vale from Beacon and from this high up they could see the waterfront. It was the Vale docks, something had happened.

_ A fire?  _ Something was tugging at the back of her memories but she couldn’t quite place it. 

“Early reports are saying there was some kind of explosion.” Foehammer said out loud, no doubt listening in on the emergency channel. 

_ Explosion? At the docks?  _ Carmine gasped, the memory came flooding back as she cursed at herself for forgetting something like that. 

“Shit. Foehammer we need to get there now!” Carmine gripped onto the back of the headrest and when the pilot looked back she must have seen her panicked expression because she didn’t question it at all as she turned back to the controls.

“This is Beacon 1-1,” Foehammer called into the radio, “I’ve got a huntsman team to respond to the site of the explosion. ETA four minutes.”

A pause came over the radio and then, “ _ Roger that Beacon 1-1, be advised hostile aircraft have been reported in the vicinity _ .”

“Acknowledged.” Foehammer pushed a lever forward and the bullhead accelerated hard, tilting on a heading toward the docks. 

“What’s wrong?” Taiyang asked.

Carmine moved back into the hold and banged her fist against the wall, angry at herself, “Something I forgot about. Torchwick is in the middle of stealing dust.”

“By blowing it up?” Qrow asked.

Carmine shook her head, “No. The explosion is because a teammate of mine got involved.”

“Team RWBY?” Her father asked, standing up with worry on his face. He was no doubt thinking of his daughters.

“Yang’s partner, Blake.”

“Well won’t they be fine, then? They survived for a long time afterwards, right?” Qrow strapped Harbinger back onto the small of his back. 

“In my timeline, yeah. But there’s no telling what I’ve changed. I’m not going to take any chances with my team’s safety.” The one eyed huntress bit her lip, “Besides, Torchwick is working for the enemy. If we can remove him…”

“Isn’t that interfering in Oz’s plan?” Taiyang asked while Qrow grimaced at the mention of the headmaster.

“Letting him go would be suspicious.” Was all Carmine would say. The cabin switched to the red lights, they were approaching the target zone and the huntress picked Bloom and Scatter from the seat where she’d left them.

Torchwick. She’d really almost forgotten him and his ignoble end at the hands of the very Grimm he’d helped attack Beacon and Vale. Looking back, he seemed so insignificant in the grand scheme of things but at the time she hadn’t been able to let him get away with it. Now he was just a flamboyant, petty, thief. 

“Approaching the target zone! Get ready!” Foehammer called back. 

Carmine steeled herself as she pushed the button to open the bay door, the wind tearing at her hair as the turbulence filled the cabin. With a calm gaze she stepped out into the air.

* * *

Roman Torchwick wasn’t a man of faith, but if he was, he’d say he’d pissed of some higher power. It was the only explanation for the circus his life had become. For the umpteenth time he blocked an overhead slash with the crook of his cane, drawing the blade away with a sweep and backhanding the cat eared girl and sending her careening into her monkey boyfriend. Sighing when they stood up again. 

The girl charged him again as the boy stayed back to fend off the grunts, really it took a dozen of them to slow the kid down. So useless. 

The head of his cane smashed through the cat’s collarbone and she disappeared in a blur, appearing to his right. He’d seen her use the trick enough to not be surprised and swept low, hooking her ankle with Melodic Cudgel. With a yank he pulled her foot out from under her and ‘helped’ her along by planting his left fist into her stomach and smashing the girl into the ground. A flash and her dark purple aura shattered, flickering for a moment before giving out. Before she could move his foot stomped on her stomach, causing her to cry out in pain. The tip of his can pushed into her face, the barrel hovering just in front of her eyes.

“Hey Monkey!” Roman yelled out, not taking his eyes off the cat.

“Blake! Let go of her!” The blond kid yelled.

Roman rolled his eyes, “How about you stop resisting or your girlfriend dies.”

Both kids froze, the cat with her hands coiled around his ankle but nothing she could do could get her out of this predicament. The White Fang surrounded the monkey and pulled his staff out of his hands before grabbing his arms though the boy’s glare never left Torchwick. 

“Listen kid, don’t blame me for this.” Torchwick pointed at the girl, “It was you who stuck your nose into our business.”

“ _ Sir! _ ” A voice came over the small comm earbud he had, “ _ There’s another bullhead on approach, it’s coming in fast!”  _

“Then shoot it down!” Roman turned to the others, “Get everything loaded up. Kill the kids. We need to be gone before the hunters show up!”

“Too late Roman!” The voice came from the sky as a red blur shot through the air at an alarming rate, the figure not so much fall as tear forward like a round from a canon. Behind her in the sky, for the voice  _ was  _ female, the intruding bullhead could be seen rapidly approaching their location. It was too early for any huntsman to drop but apparently this one had a semblance that let her bloody fly. 

He was cursed. 

Melodic Cudgel came up and a fire round screamed out to meet the incoming huntress, dodging midair was hard, especially at that speed. Or at least it was supposed to be. Torchwick’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as the red blur  _ split into three _ and went around the shot, unimpeded.He barely managed to get his weapon up to guard as the huntress slammed into him with the power of a freight train, combat boots planted firmly on his cane in a flying dropkick that drove him back ten feet. 

Jumping off with fluid grace the woman flipped back into a combat stance, her one silver eye staring him down. There was a moment of silence until everyone exploded into action. The White Fang bullheads he had opened fire on the incoming aircraft that peeled off but not before disgorging two more huntsman making Roman groan internal. 

He’d like the kids back, please. 

He didn’t have time for thinking anything else as the huntress suddenly filled his vision in a flash of…  _ rose petals _ ? Why was that so familiar?

In a panic Melodic Cudgel came up to block the twin hand scythes that came in for his throat, the blades hooked around his cane and the huntress pulled, attempting to disarm him but he saw through that and pulled his weapon to the side, letting them slide off his cane. It was his turn to try and disarm her, the hook of his weapon came down to her wrist but, to his mounting horror, passed through them as they turned into rose petals.

Red filled his vision as the weapons came up to eye level faster than he could blinked and it was only instincts he’d learned from streetfighting that had him tilting his head to the side, narrowly dodging the shots that came from the barrels of the two weapons.

If he’d been any slower that would have ended the fight right there.

Melodic Cudgel came up again and instead of trying anything fancy he aimed for her face but she turned into petals again and surged  _ towards  _ him. He braced for impact but none came until he felt heavy, stinging pain in his back. His aura had been up so the rounds hadn’t penetrated but damn did they smart, the woman had unloaded whatever high caliber into his back. 

It wasn’t over, however, as one of her scythes hooked his ankle and pulled from behind off balance he was prepared for her foot that she planted into the back of his knee that caused it to crack painfully onto the cement, eliciting a grunt of pain from him and another when his face joined it a moment later. The huntress bounced his head off the ground once again and kept stomping on it until he felt his aura shatter in a flicker of orange.

The preparation for blissful unconsciousness was short lived as he was kicked over to face his tormentor. Her lone silver eye bored into his and showed little emotion as she straddled him. Normally he would be quite happy at a pretty girl assuming such a position but having a gun barrel shoved into his face put a damper on things.

_ At least things can’t get worse.  _ Roman thought.

Roman thought wrong.

There was an explosion in the distance as one of his bullheads crashed into the bay in a flaming wreck, the other two fleeing like the cowards they were. The last of the White Fang grunts slumped to the ground, having been mopped up by the other two huntsmen, one using his bare fists.

“Roman.” The voice was cold and caused a shiver down his spine. He was well and truly screwed. He’d not only failed the job but been caught in the process. The only bright side was that a few of the animals had escaped with a container of dust. Cinder would flay his skin for this. She wouldn’t kill him, oh no, she still needed him for now. Instead he would be threatened and he would be cowed because she was very able, and willing, to carry out her threats. 

“You have me at a disadvantage.” The thief put on his best winning smile. At least Neo would spring him from whatever cell this woman put him in.

“Torchwick.” The eye didn’t even flinch at his smile but looked on him coldly, “Hear those sirens?” Indeed the sirens were off in the distance and coming closer, “You have two options and you have until those officers get here to decide.”

She had his undivided attention.

“I’m not here for you. You’re a small fish compared to what I want to catch. I. Want. Your. Boss.” The huntress leaned in close.

“Lady, you’ve got no idea-”

“Cinder Fall.” She growled, cutting him off and the scythe that wasn’t pointed at his head had its tip buried inches from his head into the concrete.

“Or maybe you do.” His eyes hardened, “But if you know that much you know I can’t just turn her over. She’s powerful, the kind of powerful you don’t just say no to.”

“I’m aware, Roman. But leave her to me. I know who she is, I know who her boss is and I know who she’s working with. I even know what you have planned, even the parts she hasn’t told you yet.”

Torchwick blinked in confusion, “How? She plays so close to the chest in might as well be in her rib-cage.”

“Don’t worry about how, Roman, the only thing you need to know is that Cinder Fall will die by my hand.” The huntress glared at him and in that moment he knew. This woman was just as, if not more dangerous than Cinder. It wasn’t just the skill, though she had that in spades, it was the look in her eye. The utter conviction that things would go her way, a confidence born of having the ability to make things reality. A confidence that rivaled Cinder’s. The cold steel of her weapon pressed up against his chin and given the look she gave him he knew she wouldn’t give a second thought about executing him there. 

“Time’s up. Work with me to take down Cinder or die here. Either way Cinder can’t have you.”

His heart beat at a thousand times a minute and his mind raced but there was no solution to this predicament. Or maybe this was the solution to his previous one? Cinder’s offer never came with a no option either but with her he knew she’d kill him at the end. Fall wasn’t the type to leave loose ends and he was a big one. But this woman? She was an unknown and possibly able to kill his current employer, like she said she would. Even if she didn’t manage it it would be a distraction he could use to escape. The one-eyed huntress had said it himself. He was a small fry, if he got away chances were she wouldn’t care as long as she got Fall.

“You make it hard to say no.” Roman smirked.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She smiled ferally, “You can call me Carmine.”


	8. Chapter 8

8

  
  
  


* * *

Blake took another wheezing breath as she stood on shaking legs, her glare leveled at the red haired thief currently being secured by Carmine and the two huntsmen with her. Her aura was shattered and she was lucky her ribs weren’t as well, though they were most likely bruised from the pain she was getting. Sun looked in just as bad a condition and she felt a pang of guilt for it. He’d just wanted to help her. 

She’d remembered how he’d stowed away and asked if he knew of any ship setting for somewhere else. It had been awkward to explain why she’d needed to leave. Blake couldn’t stay in Vale anymore, not now that Weiss knew about her past. By now the entire school probably knew about it, she’d seen the look on her teammate’s face when the news had settled. The fear. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like that. The White Fang was supposed to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. Defend the oppressed. Blake had thought Weiss didn’t have the full picture, that she’d been biased and arrogant but the truth hurt more. Blake herself had been the biased one. She’d believed that the heiress couldn’t possibly have suffered for anything given her wealth but hadn’t realized she’d been targeted because of her birth. The two of them had more in common than she’d ever realized, they both were persecuted for things beyond their control, just for being born. 

The fear in Weiss’ eyes when she’d reached out for the girl. She’d caused that. The White Fang she’d created with Adam and Sienna, the White Fang she’d supported, had caused that. 

Blake felt sick. 

She’d run away from that fact. Abandoned the idea that it was her fault and her responsibility. No more. She wouldn’t run from it any more. The White Fang was in Vale. They were operating openly. 

They had plans. 

What those were, Blake didn’t know. She wasn’t privy to everything Adam and Sienna had planned before she left, but she did know that whatever it was, it involved working with Torchwick. Something was wrong, Adam would never condone working with a human, especially not one as clearly racist as Roman. 

Blake’s mind began racing and it was perhaps because of this that she didn’t notice the person approaching her until it was too late. She flinched as a pair of hands clasped on her shoulders and her amber eyes went wide, meeting the sole silver one of Carmine’s. She took a large breath as the older woman looked her up and down, frozen, until the eye settled on hers once again.

“Are you okay Blake? How bad are you injured?”

“I’m fine.” Was the automatic response out of her mouth but she realized how wrong it was when she felt the grip on her shoulders tighten, “I mean I think I’ve got some bruised ribs but my aura will take care of it!” She rushed out.

“You’re going to Beacon’s infirmary.” Carmine stared her dead in the eyes.

“But-”

“You’re going to the infirmary when we get back to Beacon.” There was no room for argument in her eyes and even if she wanted to she was too injured to attempt to escape from the huntress. Instead she just crossed her arms and looked away, but still ended up nodding. 

“And now that that’s out of the way.” Carmine’s saccharine voice startled her enough to look at the woman and went pale. The wide smile plastered on the woman’s face held no warmth but rather held dark promises. It was an expression she’d seen her mother pull and in the back of her head she was surprised her leader could pull it off.

The smile faded and a glare took it’s place, “Do you have _any_ idea how ABSOLUTELY STUPID that was?!” Blake’s eyes widened at the sudden shout and found a finger poking into her chest, “You almost got yourself killed. You almost got Sun killed. What were you thinking doing this practically on your own?”

“I needed to stop the White Fang!”

“No! _You_ don’t! You feel like you’re responsible for this but you aren’t. You may have condoned this once but not anymore. I get that you want to stop them but leave that to the authorities.”

“You don’t know them like I do!” It was the wrong thing to say and Carmine let her know it. Her expression went from irritated and scolding to downright furious. It made Blake want to shrink bake, it was an expression she didn’t think she’d ever see and the woman’s face.

“You don’t know them like I do Blake. Whatever you’ve seen them do, I can guarantee I’ve seen worse. I watched them loose live Grimm into a coliseum of innocents,” Blake gasped,” cut down hundreds, and even assassinate my partner. So I do have an idea who they are and what they’re up to.”

“Carmine... “ Blake wilted, “Ruby… I..”

She never got to finish that sentence as she was interrupted by some high pitched noise that sounded oddly like her name, when she looked at Carmine all she got was a simmering glare and a mouthed ‘ _later_ ’ from her teacher. 

“Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- hrrk!” A flash of red and the source of the noise was made clear in the form of her young leader caught by the hood of her cloak by her elder self and gasping for air after being choked with her own hood. 

“If you tackled her at that speed you might just hurt her more.” Carmine said, exasperated.

Ruby sucked in a huge gasp, “You’re hurt? Where?!” she shrieked while flitting about trying to spot her injuries. Most weren’t hard to spot, various cuts and bruises as well as the fact that Blake was favoring her left side, “Blake! Don’t die! You can’t die, I only just found you!”

“Hey, relax sis. I’m sure it’s not life threatening.” Despite the easy way she said it Yang didn’t look very amused. It looked like she wanted nothing more than to give her a piece of her mind but was holding off on the injured girl. That was when Blake spotted the other person in tow, with her fingers fidgeting and she refused to look in the faunus’ direction, “Hey Blake.” Yang got her attention, “You mind telling us what’s going on?”

“I…” Her amber eyes flicked towards Carmine who looked like she’d calmed down but was still holding a steely gaze for her, no help would be coming right away from her. A quick glance showed that Weiss was paying rapt attention from the corner of her eyes while still attempting to act indignant, “I had to find out for myself if the White Fang were behind it… I can’t explain clearly why…”

“Did you have something to prove?” The voice came from the heiress in the back, her fierce blue eyes looking at her straight on, “Did you feel that you had to prove something to me?”

“I always thought the White Fang was on the side of justice. That even though we were on the wrong side of the law that what we did _helped_ faunuskind. I had my doubts. At first it was self defense or fighting to protect those being abused by humans but the others they kept going further. It was slow, insidious, until one day my eyes opened. My partner wanted to blow up a train and kill the crew. For no reason other than that they were human. I couldn’t stand it. I had to leave. I had to find some other way to fight for equality.”

“The White Fang doesn’t look kindly on traitors.” Carmine spoke up, “Even here at the docks they were about to execute her.”

Everyone looked shocked, even Weiss who looked concerned for a moment before she schooled her expression into a more neutral one, the heiress turned to Carmine, “You vouch for Blake? She’s cut all ties with the White Fang?”

“Yup. Almost literally.” Carmine’s answer seems enough for Weiss who nodded along, lost in thought. Though Yang was already grinning Blake was holding her breath. The fear in Weiss’ eyes was still vivid in her memory and it surprised her how much she found she cared for the girl. She hadn’t expected to become friends with a Schnee but a friend she was. Others called the girl cold but that was just a front. The real Weiss was a fiercely passionate girl and could even be quite impish once she let her hair down. It hurt all the more knowing she had betrayed that trust, and how she had hurt the girl in turn. She wanted desperately to impart that she had changed and left that life behind. 

“Blake,” The heiress finally spoke and everyone was still, including Ruby who, for once, could read the mood, “I want to trust you. I don’t want the time spent on this team to be a lie, however it is hard to trust you. You lied to us and ran away.” She held up a hand, stopping Blake before she could speak, “ And I understand why you would want to keep your past a secret, especially from me. But that ends now. I’m going to give you another chance so next time, come to us before you do something so dangerous. We are a team for a reason.”

The relief crashed into her. She’d been so sure this was the end of her time at Beacon. That she would have to leave these newfound friends to live on the run. She wasn’t even sure where she could go. Back to her home, probably. Though the White Fang had a large presence in Menagerie her father also had great influence. The Fang could hardly touch her there. Though that would have also meant facing her parents that she abandoned. 

Still she wasn’t going anywhere, she didn’t have to run anymore. Just as her legs threatened to give out from the relief a gust of wind washes over her, whipping everyone’s hair about as a bullhead came to land. The outside stimulus finally made her look around outside their little group and she saw Torchwick being handed off to the police by the two huntsmen that had dropped with their teacher. Once stowed and the officers were busy detaining the rest of the White Fang that were left, the two huntsmen made their way over accompanied by what looked like the lead officer who looked none too pleased. 

“Which one of these kids caused all this damage?” The man with massive sideburns asked with a scowl to match though they could all see the way his eyes fell on Blake. The vision was blocked as Carmine stepped between the two.

“Hi! I’m Professor Carmine Rose of Beacon.” she said with her best fake enthusiasm, “My student and the other one, a transfer from Haven for the Vytal Festival, witnessed suspicious activity and went to investigate. There she witnessed the White Fang and moved to intervene while calling for backup from Beacon.” She motioned to herself and the other huntsmen, “When we got here it was the White Fang firing indiscriminately into the containers of dust. I’m afraid the students involved are in need of medical attention so you will have to make due until Beacon forwards their statements. Yang help Blake into the bullhead. Qrow if you could help Sun?”

The black and gray haired huntsmen grumbled but did as asked and found Sun, pulling him up and assisting him into the humming bullhead.

“Miss-”

“Professor Rose, Officer…?”

“Oakry, Professor Rose, “ They could all tell his was incredibly angry with having to address a younger woman with a title like that, “Those faunus are important witnesses-”

“And you shall have your statement as soon as I make sure that _my_ students are okay. Get on the bullhead.” The last bit is addressed to the rest of the team and they hurriedly boarded as Carmine stared down the officer.

“You’re interfering with an investigation.” The man looked ready to try and cuff her, and probably hadn’t for the fact that she was a huntress and he likely stood no chance if she resisted. 

“Don’t worry Officer Oakry. Beacon will be happy to cooperate after medical attention has been administered to it’s students. You know where to find us if you need anything else.” With a last fake smile she boarded the bullhead and waved to the pilot who gave her a thumbs up and they took off, the doors closing as they ascended into the air. 

The wind cut off as the aircraft sealed shut, the sense of the craft turning and accelerating it’s way towards Beacon. 

“Uncle Qrow! Dad!” Ruby’s piercing cry had Blake wincing but she did take a moment to observe the two huntsmen that had been with Carmine. Dark black hair freckled with grey and maybe a little too much chest showing with a cape and large sword stowed next to him. The other had Ruby happily hanging off of him and a huge grin on his face. It was clear he was Ruby’s dad, not to mention they’d seen Qrow when he participated in that match for Goodwitch’s class. The man’s blond hair was a dead giveaway as to where that particular trait came from for Yang. 

“So Dad, what are you both doing here?” Yang asked casually but Blake could see how she was sitting out of reach of her father. 

“Special mission for Ozpin. We’re helping Carmine with some stuff.”

“Special mission?” Ruby perked up like a dog, “Can we help?! Oh oh please, I wanna help!”

“Sorry kiddo.” The blond father laughed and rubbed her head, “You’re supposed to be studying, not getting involved in hunter business.”

“At least the team’s back together.” Their leader said after a short pout, a wide grin spreading across her face and Blake couldn’t help but agree. Despite the troubling implications of Torchwick and the White Fang working together those problems could be handled later. She should be grateful to have her team back and the chance at rebuilding her friendship with Weiss.

“I don’t know where you’re getting that satisfied look from.” Carmine spoke up, a mischievous smirk plastered on her face that set Blake on edge. She still was wary of how angry the woman had been earlier and it seemed the one eyed professor hadn’t forgotten either, mischief turning vicious, “After all you have to answer to Glynda and Oz.”

Blake’s face went white as the blood drained from her face as the realization dawned on her. 

-SY-

Carmine watched with some small measure of satisfaction as Blake meekly left the Headmaster’s office and she, with her father and uncle in tow, entered to see Ozpin. Glynda was as present as usual like a permanent fixture in his office. The Headmaster leaned forward on his hands, anxious to hear their report of their encounter with Jormungandr. 

Business first it seemed. And Carmine launched into an elaboration of what she was told and the events on the shore of Lake Matsu. When she was done Ozpin leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. No doubt he’d been worried he’d sent good people to their deaths once again. Just because he could and would make such a decision didn’t mean he did it lightly. Ozpin, at his core, was a good man in an impossible position trying to do the best he could and the responsibility weighed heavily on him.

“You have the locations?” He finally asked. 

“Yup.” Carmine took out her scroll and fiddled with it for a moment before placing it on Ozpin’s desk. It connected to the holographic projector and a globe popped up with two points of light, both on the same continent, “Cusith and Bast. Both of them reside on Menagerie, apparently. Looks like Cusith is out in the desert, but Bast is closer to Kuokuana. Jorm says she made a home out in the jungles between the settlement and the desert. Got any info on these two, Oz?”

“I’m afraid I cannot offer much in the way of concrete information. Even in my time the Primordials were already legends. But they did say that Bast was rather benevolent if not elusive. The legends say she is a shadow of death and if you see her then your time has come. There’s absolutely nothing on Cusith however. This is the first time I'm hearing the name.”

“Well since Jorm recommended it we might as well get in contact with Bast first. He _did_ say she would be able to point us to more of the Primordials.” Carmine walked thoughtfully around the globe.

“Therein lies the problem. Menagerie lies outside the four kingdoms and we have no authority there. We cannot just send a team of huntsmen to their land to conduct a secretive mission. The Valean Council would have my head for it.”

“So what you’re saying is we need approval from the Menagerie head of state?” Carmine grinned wolfishly. 

“You have an idea?” Ozpin caught on.

“Totally. I mean we happen to have a student with direct ties to the Chieftain of Menagerie.”

“Wait. Which student?” Qrow asked.

“Blake Belladonna, daughter of Ghira and Kali Belladonna.” 

“Miss Broody is a princess?!”

“I know right? Doesn’t act like it. I take it you knew?” The last bit Carmine threw towards Ozpin who nodded slowly.

“When Miss Belladonna applied to Beacon I looked up the name. Her resemblance to her mother is uncanny to say the least. The point Miss Rose raises is a valid one and an idea that occurred to myself. After all, the student’s first missions are coming up and I do believe Chief Belladonna would like to see his daughter. I doubt they’ve been in contact for quite some time.” Ozpin stood with hi back to them, staring out of the Vale nightscape. 

“The kids are gonna be excited about their first mission. Or at least most of them will. I doubt Blake will be very enthusiastic about a sudden return home.” The one eyed professor’s eye practically danced. 

“Then she will have to bear it. In the meantime I will see about contacting Chieftain Belladonna. I can frame it as strengthening ties between Vale and Menagerie. Atlas won’t be happy about it but James will see reason.” Ozpin concluded.

Carmine thought Blake deserved the homecoming for all the worry the faunus had put her through. That and the poor girl deserved some time with her parents, she’d heard from her own timeline’s Blake that although she was afraid at first her family had welcomed her back with open arms. She needed this whether she knew it or not.

And hey, if she got to watch the girl squirm then all the better.

  
  



	9. Chapter 9

9

* * *

  
  


Jaune stepped through the swirling red portal with Vernal close behind, his arm still smarting from where Vernal had kicked him awake, spitting vitriol in the middle of the night, like it was his fault he was sleeping at three a.m. For a moment he’d thought he was being attacked, so though his arm still smarted she was sporting a black eye.

That would teach her to startle a sleeping huntsman.

He was hit with much warmer air, stepping through into a very dim room. Calling it a room, however, was an understatement. A massive vaulted ceiling stretched into the darkness with an ornate, wooden balustrade led down some stairs to what, he now recognized, was a grand atrium. Of course he knew which atrium it was as it had been a part of their plan. The atrium of Haven Academy in Mistral.

Raven really had pulled the lottery. 

She was a maiden, had a powerful semblance, and could turn into a bird. Used correctly she was virtually untouchable. Seriously, she was broken and she wasn’t humble about it either. She was quick to remind him his own semblance wasn’t anything to snuff at, however. On it’s own it wasn’t that special but depending on who he teamed it up with, it could be used to devastating effect.

For example, during their planning stages, they had tested out how his semblance interacted with hers. The results were interesting. Jaune’s semblance could transfer his own aura to another and enhance their semblance. With Raven it extended her range, as in the range away from somebody that she could generate a portal. 

They continued to explore their options for getting to the Vault of the Spring Maiden, he remembered where it was, and, more specifically, where the entrance was. Their biggest problem was they didn’t know what the key was and even if they did they would have had to get it from Leonardo, not exactly an easy prospect. Surprisingly enough it was Vernal who made the suggestion and it had floored the both of them.

As Raven explained it her semblance forms bonds with individuals which makes her able to sense their general state and surrounding, this let her open portals without it being in the middle of a wall or into a tree. This also meant she could choose how far away to put the portal in relation to the target. She’d also never tried to open one while standing next to her target but in conjunction with his semblance it turned out she could create a portal next to herself and then one further away with Vernal as the center.

“Shouldn’t this be harder?” Jaune whispered causing Raven to stare at him before rolling her eyes.

“Why on Remnant would I want this to be harder?” She shook her head, “The Vaults rely on secrecy. Most don’t know it’s there and even if they did they would have to find out where the entrance was and then how to open it. After all of that they would then have to get the key from Leonardo, an accomplished huntsman and headmaster of the academy. I doubt Ozpin accounted for my semblance when he made the vault.”

“I suppose. I’m just uneasy.” Jaune walked down the stairs, staring at the large statue, a sense of deja vu pervading. 

“Well get over it.” Raven joined him at the base of Jinn’s statue, her hand held out and he grasped it. Without a word he focused his semblance to her and he could feel it slowly slipping into her, like a slight pulling sensation from their point of contact. She slashed her sword and her portal coalesced into life just a few feet away. As one they both stepped through because if he stopped his semblance her extended portal would snap out of existence, “Vernal, stay here.”

The bandit nodded just before they vanished and suddenly he was falling, the portal disappearing behind them as she let go of his hand. Raven fell down the center of the shaft as he drifted to the side, his hand coming out and touching the smooth, stone wall. Channeling his semblance to his digits, the whole hand glowing a bright white as he gripped onto the wall, slowing his descent until finally they reached the bottom. Jumping away from the wall Jaune switched his semblance to his legs, enforcing them and landing with a heavy thud. With the flapping of wings Raven landed gracefully, transforming at the last second with a flourish and a smirk at him to which he responded with a roll of the eyes.

The vault itself took his breath away. It was beautiful in a way that he hadn’t expected as Raven forced the gilded gate doors open. A platform extended out over a yawning chasm made of grey stone and darkened blue circles connected by a lined connecting from the entrance to the actual vault. The stonework was laid like flowers and small bushes lined the side. The centerpiece, and the part that had stunned him, was the tree at the end. It stood, easily a hundred feet tall with roots interwoven with the large boulders it sat upon and had hundreds of luminescent flowers blooming in a gentle orange. All around the pair drifted petals that scattered when they touched stone. 

It was ethereal and so clearly magical. 

Raven stepped forward and as her foot touched what looked like smooth crystal inlaid on the path to the vault a sound like a deep bell rang out and the path lit up with a clear blue, responding to the presence of the Spring Maiden. The stopped in front of the massive, golden door inset into the face of the boulders at the base of the tree, it too glowed with magic and made of what looked like massive fans. 

With a slight hesitation she would surely deny Raven touched her hand to the door and blue light sprung from the point of contact in the shape of vines, scrolling up the door. Slowly with a mechanical whirring the fans folded into themselves and the door, revealing their true destination that lay there. If the tree had been magical, what lay beyond was otherworldly. It defied explanation and made him nauseous to look at as what looked like bits and pieces of the landscape infinitely floated away.. 

On the other side lay a vast, infinite desert with some stone leading a short distance away and atop a pedestal lay the object they had come for. A blue orb set in a golden lamp, simple in design and yet also ornate. There was no heat as they stepped through, boot thumping onto the stone path that led to the Relic of Knowledge.

Seeing it filled him with nostalgia for memories he didn’t really have. 

“It’s your turn Jaune. You said you knew how it worked.” Raven crossed her arms in front of her impatiently.

“Yeah. All you need to say,” Jaune reached out and touched the lamp, his fingers brushing across the cool metal, “is  _ Jinn, _ ”

From the vents in the toop blue mist started pouring out, coalescing into a blue skinned woman, identical to the statue up top, adorned in golden chains. Inscrutable eyes observed them as she stretched, floating in the air. Jinn smiled as she put cheek in hand, leaning on nothing, before she spoke.

“I am Jinn, the spirit of Knowledge.” she introduced, “I am able to answer three questions once and era. Two remain in this one.”

Raven stood silent a moment before nudging Jaune and startling him into action, “Jinn. You know what it is I wish to ask.”

The spirit nodded, “You do not pose questions in my presence. How shrewd. Yes, it is within my power to answer the question that you wish to ask.”

“Then tell me. Tell me everything I cannot remember.”

Jinn’s smile grew.

Jaune blinked and everything turned wite, when he looked around neither Jinn nor Raven were to be seen. As if echoing through his head he heard a feminine voice ring out.

_ “There once was a young boy, who dreamt of being a hero.” _

-SY-

  
  


“I don’t believe it!” The door to Carmine’s office slammed open as one of her student’s barged in, brandishing a scroll like a deadly weapon, “Have you seen the news?!”

The professor sat in her small office, twirling a pen deftly in her right hand, her eyepatch discarded on her desk leaving her injured eye open to the air. Time and aura had gone a long way for the desiccated organ, the only obvious remainder the angry red scarring running in a line down her brow. The wound had been a clean, if deep, cut.

Blake wildly held the scroll before the her leader from the future, on it a title headed in bold:

**Torchwick Escapes Custody! Valean Police Incompetant?**

Carmine stared at it for a moment before replying, “That was fast. Impressive.”

Apparently it wasn’t what Blake wanted to hear, “It’s not impressive!” Her hands slammed down on the desk, almost knocking over the mug of coffee she had been nursing as she worked over lesson plans, “He’s gotten away and he’s working for the White Fang! Doesn’t that concern you?!”

“Of course it does!” the professor snapped, shooting the faunus a small glare, “But it  _ doesn’t  _ concern you. There’s not much to be done by now anyways. He’s no doubt long gone.”

“It does concern me! The White Fang are plotting something, you should know that!” Blake continued.

“Of course I know that, Blake, but I’m telling you to butt out of it. We have the situation under control.” 

“Really? Could have fooled me.” Blake’s eyes were as sharp as Carmine’s own eye. 

“Close the door and sit down.” Her tone made it clear she wasn’t asking. With indignation Blake closed the door and sat down in one of the two available seats across from Carmine, arms crossed and her chin jutted out in defiance.

“Blake. You need to let this go.” When the girl looked like she was going to protest, Carmine held a finger up to forestall her, “No. Don’t even start with me about this. Yes. I know about your history and what the White Fang are capable of but  _ you  _ are no longer a part of that.  _ You _ are no longer responsible for what they do.”

“I know that!” Blake exclaimed, teeth gritted, “ But I can’t just sit by when I  _ know  _ that they are planning something!” Her eyes closed as she turned her head away and continued in a softer voice, “How could I live with myself if something happened and I could have done something to prevent it.”

Carmine’s expression softened. How many times had she failed to save those she cared about? How many times had she been in a position to prevent something terrible from happening. 

Too many times. Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, Ren, Qrow, her father, Pyrrha. So much death, so much regret.One by one she’d found fewer and fewer allies by her side until she had faced Salem with just Jaune stood at her shoulder. Now even he and Oscar were gone, in a way. 

The people she knew were gone, the experiences of that last decade for her erased from existence. Oscar was on his farm in Anima and Jaune was in JNPR’s dorm even now, oblivious to Pyrrha’s crush. 

“I get it. But you don’t have to let your guilt guide you. Ozpin and I have this in hand.” 

“I can help. I know how the White Fang works, I can- “

“That’s enough Blake. I know you want to help, and I appreciate it, but leave this to us. I  _ know _ exactly what the White Fang is up to. They won’t get away with it.” Blake’s eyes got steely, the defiance returning and Carmine let out a small sigh at the stubborn girl, had she always been this hard to deal with?

“Look, I don’t want you guys involved because I don’t want you getting hurt. I’ve seen what happens when the Fang puts a target on your back.” 

Blake flinched at that, no doubt thinking of Weiss.

To be fair, so had she. 

“I don’t want team RWBY to be targets. Not again.”

The faunus seemed to struggle with it for a moment, closing her eyes and biting her lip before nodding and standing up, moving to the door, her hand resting on the knob, “I really could help you know.”

Carmine smiled to herself, “I know. I don’t doubt that. I’m just thinking of your safety.” Before Blake could disappear fully through the door she called out to the girl, making her pause halfway in the doorway, “I almost forgot to tell you, I’ll be taking over team RWBY’s training personally from now on. We’ll start this coming weekend.”

The professor enjoyed the way the girl paled and scrambled to close the door. Finally alone Carmine checked her scroll, the notification having come in during their conversation. A time, an address, signed  _ R.T.  _ Hardly subtle but effective enough. 

It looked like she had a date on Friday. 

-SY-

Blake stopped outside of her team’s dorm, the conversation weighing down upon her. Carmine’s warning echoed in her mind and the impending, ominous, White Fang plot hung over her. She didn’t know what they were planning, but could piece together some small details from what Carmine had let slip. 

_ I watched them loose live Grimm into a coliseum of innocents, cut down hundreds, and even assassinate my partner. _ __

A coliseum. The only thing she could think of was Amity and it brought horrific context to the White Fang’s actions but also even more questions. Whatever was happening was bigger than she imagined, it could even mean the fall of Vale, and Blake felt a cold spike of fear drive through her. How many would die? The tourists coming for the Festival would put the population of Vale at an all time high. If they launched a successful attack during the Vytal tournament and actually got Grimm onto the stadium? 

She felt nauseous and her head started to spin enough that her hand had to reach out to stabilize herself on the wall. An attack like that could potentially kill thousands, could she really sit back, knowing this?

She couldn’t. The answer came to her. Knowing the White Fang like she did, knowing that she had been complicite in the rise of the organization as it was?

Blake had realized long ago that sitting by and doing nothing was the same as committing the act herself. Racism had been in the bystanders watching and doing nothing as much as the ones beating innocent faunus. Blake couldn’t,  _ wouldn’t,  _ become a bystander.

Taking a deep breath and a silent apology to Carmine she opened the door to their room. Ruby was hard at work in her bed, already in pajamas and studying, Yang flipping through a magazine and Weiss being her diligent self. Only Yang looked up when her partner entered but something must have shown on her face because the girl put her reading material down with a concerned look. 

“I… have a favor to ask you all.” Blake started but hesitated. Doing this would not only go against what Carmine had all but ordered but also paint a target on their backs. By this time Weiss had stopped and even Ruby was being attentive, “The White Fang needs to be stopped. They’re planning something and I’m not sure exactly what it is but I know it’s bad. I need your help. I can’t stand by and do nothing.”

Weiss looked surprised and a little pleased, sharing a look and nod with the other two members of team RWBY.

“We’re all a team, Blake. Of course we’ll help you.” Ruby reassured her.

Blake felt the pressure lessen, more resolute than before at her team’s solidarity, “Okay. I should probably fill you in, then.”

She launched into her conversation with Carmine and some of what she’d said at the docks the other night, being careful to leave out mention of Weiss’ fate. 

“You think they’re going to launch an attack on Amity during the Vytal festival?” Yang looked sick at the thought, “Why? What’s the purpose?!”

“I don’t know. They gain nothing. In fact it hurts them more than anything.” Blake answered and it didn’t satisfy any of them, “But that’s why I think we should investigate.”

“I agree. We are huntresses, it is our sworn duty to intervene and protect the innocent.” Weiss threw in. It looked like the team was of the same opinion, “We’ll need a plan, then. We can’t just rush into it like you did at the docks.”

Blake flushed at the reminder but nodded anyways. Carmine would investigate from her end but she would add in their help and catch the White Fang from both ends. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So yeah someone mentioned I made the mistake about Carmine's eye, and referred to her eyes. Yeah, that was a typo. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get out of the habit of typing eyes. Trust me it's not like I forgot she was missing an eye, just a slip up. But in other news it's the return of Jaune and we can only imagine what's about to unfold there as both Raven and he are stealing the two questions. What's Raven gonna ask, you ask? Well you'll have to find out in the next chapter. I decided to skip the fairytale because I didn't wanna do a massive expo dump, I prefer to try and do more storytelling through action and behavior. Conversation and showing rather than "here's what happened" I mean yeah that could happen, but it would be boring. I like to imagine you all have a more interesting time piecing together what happened from the slip ups and off handed mentions the future characters give out.
> 
> So yeah, Carmine will start training the team because they need to be ready for their mission to Menagerie but you can guess why she's keeping it on the down low for now. Blake would freak. Not to mention it's blatant favoritism from the staff by giving them a special mission and not letting them pick their own like every other team. Not to mention the one on one training. They have to at least keep up appearances for the moment and while Oz could have Qrow, an on the surface unaffiliated huntsman come in to hand the training who better than the future team leader who knows all their styles? Talk about a cheat sheet, though I imagine it won't just be that easy. Sure you can tell Weiss, "Yeah you're capable of summoning." But that doesn't mean she can just go "Oh yeah, I can do that." and just have her start summoning all over the place.
> 
> Speaking of I'm pretty salty that ever since Weiss became able to summon that's practically all she ever does. What happened to time dilation or her platforms and stuff? She has the most versatile semblance out of everyone save maybe Glynda. With a bit of imagination she could be incredibly broken.
> 
> But I digress. I'll stop rambling here and like always I enjoy your commentary.


	10. Displaced 10

"She said she had a date?" Blake asked as she stooped to see her work better, hands fiddling about before here.

Yang stood next to her, leaning on the wall and looking for all the world bored with their activity.

Considering they were breaking into a teacher's office, she could read the mood a little bit. She hissed just that at her partner from the control panel she had taken apart in her hands. Yang just laughed her off and scanned the corridor again. Since she was a new teacher, Carmine's office was located a bit apart from most of the other teachers and late in the evening as it was, no student was in sight, most having gone off to enjoy their weekend already.

The wires sparked against her fingers, the bite of electricity seeping through her aura. It was a crude job but she didn't have the means to be able to hack the lock. Breaking it into opening though? That the White Fang had taught her. She had gone on quite a few missions where stealth was required, she had never imagined the experience and skills would find use in Beacon however.

Wasn't she meant to be a huntress now?

Wherever her musings would have taken her were interrupted as a soft clicking sound came from the door. Testing it tentatively, she pulled it open and was able to look into Carmine's office. It hadn't changed since she'd been there a few days ago, not that she'd expected it to. The makeshift office was fairly bare, really just a desk, filing cabinet, and a few seats. Their goal lay on the desk, or rather a part of it.

Yang swept into the room as Blake put the terminal back together. It would still be broken however she knew how to minimize evidence left behind. The teachers would know someone broke in but not who. And hopefully they never would.

Shutting the door carefully, Blake walked over to stand behind Yang who had already sat behind the terminal atop Carmine's desk. There was a reason it was only the two of them doing this. Blake had the skills to get into the room but not ones that would enable her to get into the computer in the office. Instead they left that up to Yang. And while she didn't have any hacking skills to speak of she had one thing none of the others had.

She knew Ruby best.

No matter how much she had changed, Carmine was Ruby, even if she went by a new name it didn't change who she was. And who knew her better than her own sister? The only reason they hadn't brought their leader was that the mere thought of breaking into a teacher's office nearly sent the straight laced girl into a panic attack so Weiss had stayed behind with Ruby to calm her down.

"You sure you know what the password is?" Blake asked.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Yang cracked her knuckles and made Blake wince in the process, "I'm the best sister ever. Besides, Ruby's always had the easiest password to remember."

With a handful of taps on the keyboard she filled in the password box and a moment after hitting the enter key the screen faded into the standard background of a desktop.

"I'm in." The blonde said with a smirk.

"Such a skilled hacker." Blake droned and bent down to get a closer look over Yang's shoulder at the screen.

"There. Open that application." She pointed a particular icon out to Yang.

Opening it started an application most personal terminals had, a scroll backup system. It was designed mostly because of how dangerous travel was in general backups were built into these in case one lost or damaged their scroll in the field or just in general. Usually the default setting was to sync automatically with the scroll paired with the terminal and luckily enough for them it seemed that Carmine didn't turn that feature off.

Open before them lay all the files on her scroll the last time it had been connected to the terminal. Blake's eyes zeroed in on the words 'White Fang' down the list. Opening the directory showed several files. Some dated in the future but there were several made just recently.

Placing her own scroll onto the desk she quickly synchronized with the terminal and started downloading all the files on the White Fang that Carmine had. Yang started snooping around in a different directory labeled 'Media'. Blake ignored it in favor or flicking through some of the White Fang files on her scroll. Some of the later ones were hefty and full of documents. Several were crime scene investigations but with no context she was unlikely to make too much sense of those.

"Hey look!" Blake's eyes flicked back to the screen in time to see a group shot of team RWBY together. In fact it was one they had just taken after she'd come back from the docks, their first picture as a team, "There's more too."

Yang flicked through some more pictures and she saw a few. One with her and Bake, another with Weiss berating Ruby. Many were typical photos of their life in Beacon but like a switch the pictures changed. One picture was everyone together and the next contained some of team JNPR and some of team RWBY. But two people were missing. Blake and Pyrrha.

"Hey wait!" Yang's face nearly collided with the screen as she attempted to look closer, "Do I have a prosthetic?!"

Upon close inspection they could see that Yang's right arm, slung over Nora, was indeed mechanical and Blake could remember she'd seen it in a picture before. The one she'd seen at a glance before when Carmine had first arrived from the future.

"It looks like it."

"How! What happened!" Yang started flipping through the pictures faster, her eyes glued to the screen.

Some kid who looked just a bit younger than Ruby started appearing in the pictures, cane in hand with a green overcoat. He looked uncomfortable at first but eventually like he started to belong. One flashed by that caused Yang to gasp, Ren and Nora together in a Mistralian wedding. Nora was absolutely stunning in her dress and was beaming. Jaune could be seen in a suit in the background behind Ren and it looked like Yang was right behind Nora.

"Oh wow." Blake muttered, "Looks like Nora's patience pays off."

Yang tittered and continued through more pictures but something felt off. Eventually she found what it was. Weiss had stopped appearing. The most in any of the pictures were JNPR, that kid, Blake, Yang, and Ruby. Even in photos she was sure the heiress should have been in, she wasn't. All of the sudden Yang stopped on a single, still image. It was different from all the others, a thumbnail for a video. On the screen was Yang's face, arm outstretched to hold the scroll and in the background they could see Blake, just barely. They were older. It had a different mood to all the others. The expression on Yang's face in the image looked haggard and desperate, there were tears streaming down her face.

Yang made to click on the play button but Blake's hand snapped out to stop her before she could even think, "A-are you sure you want to see that?"

Yang looked up at her, a lost and worried look in her eyes, "Can you honestly tell me you don't want to see it?"

Blake bit her lower lip but withdrew her hand. Despite wanting to stop Yang and despite knowing it wouldn't be pleasant she nodded to Yang who took a gulp before hitting play.

Her heart was hammering in her chest and she thought she could almost hear Yang's as well.

The video started with a lurch, the image blurring as the scroll was waved around. They looked to be fighting, Blake had Gambol Shroud in pistol form, the weapon barking over the edge of whatever they were standing on. Yang paused to fire Ember Celica over the edge as well. The din of combat could be heard through the speakers on the terminal.

" _Yang! Good timing. You wouldn't believe how big that Grimm was, it blew a huge hole in the wall and everything!"_

Yang's face on the screen contorted in worry, " _What! Are you okay?!_ "

" _I'm fine._ " Ruby's reply caused her sister to relax but there was still something in her face, something Blake couldn't quite place but felt familiar, " _What about you, Yang? How's the South Wall?_ "

The blonde looked away, hesitant, before taking a deep breath like she was readying herself and Blake felt her heart sink. Her hand on Yang's shoulder tightened but it seemed like she didn't notice.

" _Not good._ " She finally said before shouting at the scroll, Ruby must have made a move, " _No! You can't leave the North wall! You leave and the Grimm will flood in. They haven't finished evacuating yet. And…_ " There were tears glistening in Yang's eyes, her voice cracking, " _And that's also why we can't leave the wall either._ "

" _We have to hold as long as we can and without you stopping the Grimm on your end they'd slaughter the evacuees. None of us can move, Ruby._ "

There was a dead silence before Ruby's voice could be heard through the speakers, " _No!. No, no no no! You can't do this do me Yang. I'm coming to get you!_ "

" _Don't you dare!_ " Yang shouted, eyes flashing a brilliant crimson before settling back into lilac. In the background howls could be heard approaching. Shrieks as nevermore dove through the sky in a torrent of anti-air fire, slamming into the wall's defender, " _It's too late! We won't hold out much longer and there's no way for you to get to us in time. You'd be dooming everyone._ "

" _But Yang..._ " Ruby sobbed, her voice failing her as she realized what was happening and the same hit the both of them watching the recording. Blake felt sick to her stomach, words spoken by Carmine came back to her and it was with dawning horror that she knew with certainty how this would end.

" _Just don't_." Yang looked like it broke her heart to say it, it was starting to become harder to hear her, " _We aren't gonna make it, Rubes._ " Just saying it looked like it broke her, " _I need you to be strong. I need you to survive. I love you._ "

Ruby let out a strangled sob, " _I l- Look out!_ "

In the background a flash of black and white jostled the screen, a Nevermore having dove down upon Yang. The screen blurred for a moment as the scroll tumbled to the ground, only showing the night sky once the it stabilized, the stars being blotted out by flying Grimm of all kinds and streams of tracing fire were directed above, illuminating the shapes of Nevermore, Griphons, and others as they swarmed the walls of Vale. A yell was punctuated by the sharp bark of a gun as Yang slew the Grimm that attacked her. They could see her standing over the scroll but she didn't move to pick it up again.

Blake appeared next to her, amber eyes glowing in the night as she looked down at the device and presumably at Ruby on the other side. They couldn't hear what she mouthed but it looked like a farewell. All the while they could hear the recorded sobs of their leader as she screamed for her sister and her teammate. It fell upon deaf ears.

"They're over the walls!" Came a shout from the side and suddenly everything became more chaotic. A wall of black and white appeared, Yang moving to the side to avoid it, and suddenly the screen went black, the recording over.

In the silence that followed Blake couldn't tell if it was her own heart hammering or Yang's but her hand on the other's shoulder shook violently. Her partner was pale faced and seemingly rooted to the spot. Slowly Blake moved, peeling the blonde's hands away from the keyboard held them. She clasped them tightly in her own in an attempt to get them both to stop shivering and after a few minutes they did.

"What was that?" Yang asked in a whisper, her eyes sought Blake's, "Was that… Did I just see how I die?"

The voice was so small, so scared, so vulnerable that her heart ached for her partner and it purred her into action, "No. Yang, that wasn't you. It won't be you. I won't let it. Ruby won't let it. Neither of them will."

Blake had known she'd died in Carmine's timeline but that hadn't prepared her for what she had seen there. It was haunting. Yang hadn't been prepared and the shock was showing but her partner's vibrancy was quick to return, even if she still seemed distracted.

"Yeah." Yang nodded, slowly at first but picking up speed as she dispelled the last vestiges of the experience, "You're right. And the first step is to look over what we found on the White Fang. We should get back to the others."

They both stood and made their way to the door and Blake wouldn't remark on how closely Yang stood beside her as they made their way back to their dorm.

-SY-

Carmine eyed the empty warehouse with a wary gaze. She knew Uncle Qrow was flying about, keeping watch, but she still felt cautious. This would have been the perfect time to sell her out to Cinder, if Roman wanted to betray her.

Not that it would work, but Torchwick didn't know that.

She had to place her trust in the thief knowing that Cinder intended to silence him, and that the only way out of the situation was through her. A lone silver eye roamed across the depressingly empty warehouse. It looked to have been recently emptied, no dust had yet settled on the floor, and everything was cleaned out. Roman had probably just moved the dust to a new location. That was fine. She didn't need to know where it was, she already knew where it would be.

Mountain Glenn.

Carmine wondered if even Torchwick knew he was going there yet. It would be fun to find out. A clang echoed across the empty space and unhurried, measured, steps reached her ears. They were bothering to conceal herself and it was just the one set. She knew better than to take that for granted. There were many ways of concealing yourself and Neopolitan knew most of them. If she had to take a guess, the girl was in the rafters, ready to drop down on her. Maybe she could keep Qrow company, then.

It was like a game, trying to guess your opponent's moves and thoughts. A dagger in the night could catch any huntsman or huntress if it was a surprise but Roman had to know her aura would be up, so she didn't have to worry about a sudden attack from Neo. They also both knew that one on one he didn't stand a chance against her. It left her confident enough to cross her arms in front of her, well away from the weapons in their new holsters on her thighs. Her past self had helped her redesign them to allow for faster drawing with a speed cut on the upper part.

Carmine saw the glow of his cigar first, approaching like some phantom in the night appeared Roman Torchwick, puffing on one of his trademarked cigars and Melodic Cudgel in his other hand. He stopped just short of her and it put the whole situation in perspective. Here the both of them were, meeting in an abandoned warehouse late at night. It was such a typical venue from her old comics it made her want to burst out laughing. Instead she settled for a small smirk, offering her hand to the crook.

"Carmine Rose." She greeted, "I see you had no problem with leaving the accommodations of Vale's finest."

Torchwick hooked the crook of his cane over his left wrist, leaving it hanging there and a clear message that he didn't intend to use it as he offered his own hand, shaking hers, "Roman Torchwick. I really wouldn't recommend staying with them. One-star. No room service and terrible food."

"I wouldn't know." She smirked slightly, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you didn't come alone."

She enjoyed the shock that spread across his face before he shook his head, "I'd really love to know how you know that."

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Probably more than my life's worth." He took a long drag on his cigar, the embers burning brighter as he inhaled, "So. Shall we get down to business?"

"Yep." She answered the crook, "Has she told you about Mountain Glenn yet?"

Roman started choking on his cigar, "How do you know that?!" He asked to which she merely raised an eyebrow, "Right, bloody psychic or something. Yeah. She just told me actually." Roman stared at her as Carmine shrugged before shaking his head and muttering to himself. Something about how it was worth much more than his life.

A slow smile build up around her face that had Roman shivering, "Good. We'll lay a trap in Vale for her."

Torchwick's eyes widened in the dim light from his cigar as Carmine laid out the plan to him, her voice disappearing into the dark shadows that surrounded them, a suffocating, oppressive darkness that enveloped just the pair.

-SY-

**AN: And it has been a long time. I've been struggling to write anything since the death of my father last year but I'm trying, guys, I really am. Things should be looking up from here.**

**Anyways, this chapter. Things are definitely moving forward and we haven't seen the last of what Yang's just found out.**


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